Living Alone with Alzheimer’s Disease: Data from SveDem, the Swedish Dementia Registry

BACKGROUND: Many people with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) live alone in their own homes. There is a lack of knowledge about whether these individuals receive the same quality of diagnostics and treatment for AD as patients who are cohabiting.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the diagnostic work-up and treatment of community-dwelling AD patients who live alone.

METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional cohort study based on data from the Swedish Dementia Registry (SveDem). We studied patients diagnosed with AD between 2007 and 2015 (n = 26,163). Information about drugs and comorbidities was acquired from the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register and the Swedish Patient Register.

RESULTS: 11,878 (46%) patients lived alone, primarily older women. After adjusting for confounders, living alone was inversely associated with receiving computed tomography (OR 0.90; 95% CI 0.82–0.99), magnetic resonance imaging (OR 0.91; 95% CI 0.83–0.99), and lumbar puncture (OR 0.86; 95% CI 0.80–0.92). Living alone was also negatively associated with the use of cholinesterase inhibitors (OR 0.81; 95% CI 0.76; 0.87), memantine (OR 0.77; 95% CI 0.72; 0.83), and cardiovascular medication (OR 0.92; 0.86; 0.99). On the other hand, living alone was positively associated with the use of antidepressants (OR 1.15; 95% CI 1.08; 1.22), antipsychotics (OR 1.41; 95% CI 1.25; 1.58), and hypnotics and sedatives (OR 1.09; 95% CI 1.02; 1.17).

CONCLUSION: Solitary living AD patients do not receive the same extent of care as those who are cohabiting.