Among users of antidementia drugs, patients using memantine have the highest risk of pneumonia and the use of rivastigmine patches is associated with an increased risk, according to a Finnish study.
A recent study from the University of Eastern Finland found that persons using donepezil or galantamine had the lowest risk of pneumonia. However, persons using memantine or rivastigmine patches had a 1.6 and 1.15 times higher risk of pneumonia, respectively, but no elevated risk was observed among patients using rivastigmine in capsule form.
The real risk increase may be even higher, as only cases of pneumonia leading to hospitalisation or death were taken into account.
