Difficulties in reporting purpose and dosage of prescribed medications are associated with poor cognition and depression

Abstract

Knowledge on prescribed medication is important for medication adherence. We determined the presence of cognitive impairment in neurological patients who report not to know reasons and dosages of their medication. Data from 350 patients were collected: sociodemographic data, German Stendal Adherence to Medication Score (SAMS), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). Eighty-eight (29.0%) patients did not know the reasons for taking their prescribed medication and 83 (27.4%) did not know the doses. Sixty-three (20.8%) knew neither reasons nor dosage. The latter were characterized by higher nonadherence, higher number of prescribed medication per day, lower MoCA, higher BDI, and had more often a lower education level compared with patients who knew the reasons. The MANOVA revealed a significant multivariate effect for not knowing the reasons and not knowing the dosages of medication on MoCA and BDI. Significant univariate effects for not knowing reasons were found for depressive mood, but not for cognitive performance. Significant univariate effects for not knowing dosages were found for cognitive performance, but not for depressive mood. Inaccurate medication reporting is not solely associated with cognitive problems, but also with depression, which has to be taken into account in daily practice and research.