BackgroundAdherence to medication is vital for disease management while simultaneously reducing healthcare expenditure. Older persons with cognitive impairment (CI) are at risk for non-adherence as cognitive processes are needed to manage medications. This systematic review focuses on the relationship between medication non-adherence and specific cognitive domains in persons with CI, and explores determinants of medication non-adherence. When available, relationships and factors are compared with cognitively intact populations.MethodsA seven database systematic search of studies published between 1 January 1949–31 December 2015 examining medication non-adherence in community dwelling persons with CI or dementia was conducted. Articles reporting medication non-adherence in people with CI or dementia in the community, with or without caregiver supports were eligible for inclusion. Papers reporting adherence to treatments in cognitively intact populations, populations from hospital or institutional settings, for non-prescribed medication or those describing dementia as a factor predicting medication non-adherence were excluded. Data on study and population characteristics, research design, data sources and analysis, specific cognitive domains, non-adherence prevalence, measurement of adherence, salient findings, factors associated with adherence and strategies to improve medication adherence were extracted. Study limitations included inconsistencies between data sources and definitions, resulting in a loss of fidelity in the value and comprehensiveness of data, as well as exclusion of non-pharmacological treatments and regimens.FindingsFifteen studies met inclusion criteria. Adherence among CI subjects ranged from 10.7%-38% with better rates of adherence in non-CI individuals. Medication non-adherence definitions varied considerably. New-learning, memory and executive functioning were associated with improved adherence and formed the focus of most studies. Multiple factors were identified as modulators of non-adherence.ConclusionThis review highlights a gap in knowledge on how specific cognitive domains contribute to medication non-adherence amongst CI populations, and demonstrates the current focus is limited to two domains: memory and executive functioning.

Medication errors (MEs) result in preventable harm to nursing home (NH) residents and pose a significant financial burden. Institutionalized older people are particularly vulnerable because of various organizational and individual factors. This systematic review reports the prevalence of MEs leading to hospitalization and death in NH residents and the factors associated with risk of death and hospitalization. A systematic search was conducted of the relevant peer-reviewed research published between January 1, 2000, and October 1, 2015, in English, French, German, or Spanish examining serious outcomes of MEs in NHs residents. Eleven studies met the inclusion criteria and examined three types of MEs: all MEs (n = 5), transfer-related MEs (n = 5), and potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) (n = 1). MEs were common, involving 16-27% of residents in studies examining all types of MEs and 13-31% of residents in studies examining transfer-related MEs, and 75% of residents were prescribed at least one PIM. That said, serious effects of MEs were surprisingly low and were reported in only a small proportion of errors (0-1% of MEs), with death being rare. Whether MEs resulting in serious outcomes are truly infrequent, or are underreported because of the difficulty in ascertaining them, remains to be elucidated to assist in designing safer systems.

Background The cornerstone of effective management in heart failure (HF) is the ability to self-care. Aims include i) To determine factors influencing self-care in HF patients with cognitive impairment (CI) and ii) to determine the influence of cognitive domains on self-care in patients with HF and CI. Methods MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, EBSCOHost, PsychINFO, ProQuest Research Library, Health Technology Assessment Database, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science and Scopus databases were systematically searched. Original research describing the relationship between cognition and HF self-care in community-dwelling older persons with dementia/CI in English, published in a peer-reviewed journal from 1 st January(2000)-22 nd March(2016) was identified. Study and population characteristics, data sources, self-care processes, methods of cognitive assessment, cognitive domains affected, study outcomes, impact of impairment, and other risk factors of self-care impairment were abstracted by two reviewers. Results Of 10,688 studies identified, 14 met the inclusion criteria. Patients with HF and CI ranged from 14 to 73%. Where reported, self-care maintenance adequacy ranged from 50 to 61%; self-care management adequacy ranged from 14 to 36% and self-care confidence adequacy ranged from 0 to 44% on the Self-care of Heart Failure Index (SCHFI). All but one study predicted poor self-care ability according to poor outcome on cognitive testing. Additionally, specific cognitive domain deficits impaired self-care. Subjects with lower cognitive scores were less likely to seek assistance while subjects with depression had poor self-care abilities. Conclusions Clinicians must consider the type and severity of impairments in cognitive domains to tailor management. Awareness of depression, self-confidence and support access may modulate self-care ability. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12872-019-1077-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Multiple measures of disability consistently demonstrated that cognitive impairment in COPD significantly increased the need for assistance in many aspects of daily living, treatment adherence, and effective self-management. Given the nature of neuropsychological deficits seen in COPD, dedicated screening tools are required. Future research should investigate the impact of cognitive dysfunction in COPD and identify how to support those that lack capacity to self-manage.

The burden of chronic disease is greater in individuals with dementia, a patient group that is growing as the population is aging. The cornerstone of optimal management of chronic disease requires effective patient self-management. However, this is particularly challenging in older persons with a comorbid diagnosis of dementia. The impact of dementia on a person’s ability to self-manage his/her chronic disease (eg, diabetes mellitus or heart failure) varies according to the cognitive domain(s) affected, severity of impairment and complexity of self-care tasks. A framework is presented that describes how impairment in cognitive domains (attention and information processing, language, visuospatial ability and praxis, learning and memory and executive function) impacts on the five key processes of chronic disease self-management. Recognizing the presence of dementia in a patient with chronic disease may lead to better outcomes. Patients with dementia require individually tailored strategies that accommodate and adjust to the individual and the cognitive domains that are impaired, to optimize their capacity for self-management. Management strategies for clinicians to counter poor self-management due to differentially impaired cognitive domains are also detailed in the presented framework. Clinicians should work in collaboration with patients and care givers to assess a patient’s current capabilities, identify potential barriers to successful self-management and make efforts to adjust the provision of information according to the patient’s skill set. The increasing prevalence of age-related chronic illness along with a decline in the availability of informal caregivers calls for innovative programs to support self-management at a primary care level.