DONEPEZIL FOR DEMENTIA DUE TO

Donepezil for dementia due to Alzheimer's disease - NeLM Donepezil for dementia due to Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia in older people. One of the aims of therapy is to inhibit the breakdown of a chemical neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, by blocking the relevant enzyme. This can be done by a group of chemicals known as cholinesterase inhibitors. The results show some improvement in global clinical state (assessed by a clinician) in people treated with 5 and 10 mg/day of donepezil compared with placebo at 24 weeks for the number of patients showing improvement or no change (OR 2.18, 95% CI 1.53 to 3.11, p= 0.0001, OR 2.38, 95% CI 1.78 to 3.19, p 0.00001). Benefits of treatment were also seen on measures of activities of daily living and behaviour, but not on the quality of life score .There were significantly more withdrawals before the end of treatment from the 10 mg/day (but not the 5 mg/day) donepezil group compared with placebo which may have resulted in some overestimation of beneficial changes at 10 mg/day. Benefits on the 10 mg/day dose were marginally larger than on the 5 mg/day dose.