Conclusions
In the last 10 years, there has been a nearly 3-fold rise in the number of prescription items for anti-dementia drugs. The rising trend in primary care prescribing demonstrates greater participation of the sector in the diagnosis and treatment of dementia in addition to specialist psychiatry care. Least deprived regions have approximately twice as high prescribing rate compared to most deprived regions. Higher rates of prescribing in the least deprived areas may be reflective of higher life expectancy, better diagnoses and access to treatment compared to the most deprived areas. Such differences need to be investigated further.