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

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Symptom Management

Symptom relief is defined as medication prescribed to control active disease, maintain quality of life, and relieve discomfort/distress from comorbidities. It is based on current, active symptoms rather than historical or documented symptoms.

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

For people living with dementia, regular medications intended only to provide symptom relief should be:

  • trialled for withdrawal every three to six months if the symptoms are stable
  • reviewed regularly for efficacy
  • reviewed regularly for side effects
  • review doses frequently to see if symptoms can be adequately maintained on a lower dose
  • maximised to alleviate distress

Expert consensus is that these practices are NOT recommended in the care of people with dementia

for people living with dementia, regular medications intended only to provide symptom relief should be continued indefinitely in people who are unable to reliably report symptom recurrence

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