MATCH-D Medication Appropriateness Tool for Comorbid Health conditions during Dementia

WACHA
You are here: Home / Principles of medication use

Principles of medication use

This advice is for people with early, mid and late stage dementia.

Expert consensus is that these practices are recommended in the care of people with dementia

Early, Mid and Late Stage Dementia

When prescribing for people living with dementia, health professionals should:

  • provide a current medication list that includes indications, administration instructions, and planned dates for review
  • regularly monitor for actual benefit of each medication
  • regularly monitor for actual side effects
  • start new medications at the lowest therapeutic dose
  • review doses frequently to see if a lower dose would be adequate
  • change only one medication at a time
  • assess impact of dementia on activities of daily living

Why do we need the MATCH-D criteria?

Most people living with dementia have at least one other health condition. They often use medications to manage their other health conditions, but we don’t have much information to guide us on whether this is appropriate. Information to help us optimise medication use for older adults generally are helpful, but people living with dementia have specific needs as they are living with a progressive life-limiting condition.

About MATCH-D

The MATCH-D statements are in the broad themes of preventative medication, symptom management, disease progression, psycho-active medication, treatment goals, principles of medication use, side effects, and medication reviews.

Research Team

The MATCH-D criteria was developed by an interprofessional team of Australian researchers. Dr Amy Theresa Page, Dr Kathleen Potter, Professor Rhonda Clifford and Associate Professor Christopher Etherton-Beer at the University of Western Australia and Professor Andrew McLachlan at the University of Sydney.

Research Centre

WA Centre for Health and Ageing, University of Western Australia Centre for Optimisation of Medicines, University of Western Australia

Published Research

The development of the MATCH-D is published research is available in the Internal Medicine Journal.

The enablers and barriers are published in the BMJ Open.

 

The systematic review that informed the MATCH-D criteria and the protocol are also published.

 

The publications are Open Access, meaning they are available free of charge.

Download files

MATCH-D Criteria

Checklists – Health professional use

PDF – Early stage, Mid stage, Late stage

DOCX – Early stage, Mid stage, Late stage