The effectiveness of six months of donepezil in the treatment of cognitive deterioration in patients with Alzheimer-type dementia

Introduction. We compared two groups of patients with cognitive deterioration secondary to Alzheimer's disease (AD) of minimal and slight degree (CAMDEX criteria), one treated with donepezil and the other without this drug (a case history sample) over a period of six months. Patients and methods. Both groups received the CAMCOG battery of neuropsychological tests at basal (pretreatment) time and six months later. Results. Those in the study sample who received donepezil(5-10 mg/day) were 91 patients (average age: 75.25, standard deviation = 6.01) of whom 28.6% were men. The control group, who did not receive anticholinesterase drugs (case history sample) consisted of 84 persons (average age: 75.98, standard deviation = 5.01) with 29.8% men. There were no significant differences with regard to age, sex, basal CAMCOG score or period of time between the two CAMCOG determinations The averages of the differences between the bar;al CAMCOG scorer and chose sir months later in the two groups war statistically significant (-1.5275 +/- 7.8458 against -6.7143 +/- 6.1234; p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis of repeat measurements corroborates these findings since significant differences were found between the true groups (p < 0.001) in the results of CAMCOG after six months, Conclusion. Donepezil was seen to be effective in that it delayed cognitive deterioration after sir months in patients with minimal and slight degrees of AD.