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STUDY PROTOCOL article

Front. Public Health

Sec. Aging and Public Health

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1606381

This article is part of the Research TopicEnsuring Public Health: The Active Role of Healthcare ProfessionalsView all 23 articles

Study protocol for identification of patients with risk of cognitive impairment in advanced pharmaceutical care in a community pharmacy

Provisionally accepted
Zuzana MacekovaZuzana Macekova1Michaela KrivosovaMichaela Krivosova2Nikola HudákováNikola Hudáková3Jozef DragasekJozef Dragasek4Michal HajdúkMichal Hajdúk5Viera ZufkovaViera Zufkova6Jan KlimasJan Klimas7*Miroslava SnopkovaMiroslava Snopkova8
  • 1Department of Pharmacy and Social Pharmacy, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Kosice, Kosice, Slovakia
  • 2Biomedical Center Martin, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Martin, Slovakia
  • 3Department of Morphological Disciplines, University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Kosice, Kosice, Slovak Republic, Kosice, Slovakia
  • 41st Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Pavol Jozef Safarik University and University Hospital, Kosice, Slovak Republic, Kosice, Slovakia
  • 5Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts, Comenius University Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia
  • 6Department of Languages, Faculty of Pharmacy, Comenius University Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia
  • 7Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Comenius University Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia
  • 8Department of Organisation and Management of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Comenius University Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia

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Cognitive impairment (CI) is a growing public health problem. Our study is based on the fact that cognitive assessment in community pharmacy focused on early identification of undiagnosed CI has received limited attention. As pharmacists are the most accessible health professionals due to the availability of community pharmacies to the public, they have the potential to bring improvement in this area. Early identification of at-risk patients with CI by performing cognitive testing within advanced pharmaceutical care may improve the availability of targeted physician- indicated treatment. Methods and analysis: The study is a multicentric study that will include cognitive screening within pharmaceutical care. We will use the Slovak version of the short form of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (s-MoCA) test. Study participants will be at-risk patients undergoing cognitive screening in community pharmacies. Secondarily, we will evaluate the risk factors related to CI, such as at-risk medication use and modifiable dementia risk factors (e.g. cardiovascular and mental comorbidities, ageing, and lifestyle habits). Ethics and dissemination: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Comenius University Bratislava (Ethics Committee Statement 01/2024). All procedures follow the relevant guidelines and regulations and the Declaration of Helsinki.

Keywords: clinical pharmacy services, cognitive impairment, Pharmacist-led screening, community pharmacy, Dementia Prevention in primary care, Physician-Pharmacist cooperation

Received: 07 Apr 2025; Accepted: 23 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Macekova, Krivosova, Hudáková, Dragasek, Hajdúk, Zufkova, Klimas and Snopkova. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Jan Klimas, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Comenius University Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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