Donepezil for severe Alzheimer’s disease
Donepezil (Aricept) could be effective in moderate
to severe Alzheimer’s disease, results from a new study suggest.
Canadian researchers randomised 290 patients with
moderate to severe Alzheimer’s disease to receive either 5mg donepezil
daily for 28 days and 10mg daily thereafter or placebo for 24 weeks.
The patients taking donepezil showed significant
improvements from baseline in mean scores on an assessment scale including
behaviour at all visits, compared with placebo.
The donepezil group also performed better on several
scales used to measure secondary outcomes. “These data suggest that donepezil’s
benefits extend into more advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease than
those previously investigated,” the researchers say (Neurology
2001;57:613).
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