[Neurocognitive disorders in old age : Role of pharmacotherapy in prevention and treatment]

Neurocognitive disorders (e.g. dementia, mild cognitive impairment and delirium) belong to the most frequently occurring problems in older patients. For most types of dementia as well as for mild cognitive impairment no causal pharmacotherapy is currently available. This also applies to delirium, which should be primarily treated through the identification and elimination of predisposing factors while cautiously using symptomatic therapy with psychotropic drugs. Despite intensive ongoing research efforts the search for disease-modifying drugs for the treatment of Alzheimer's dementia has not been successful. In the prevention and treatment of neurocognitive disorders, rational and evidence-based pharmacological interventions can nonetheless play an important role. Besides the limited benefits of symptomatic treatment with currently available anti-dementia drugs, this includes the strict management of medical risk factors as well as the avoidance of drugs with delirogenic and dementing side effects.