Donepezil Every Day to Keep Nursing Homes Away

Results of a study presented at the 14th meeting of the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry show that persistent treatment with donepezil may allow Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients to remain at home with their families for a longer period. 671 patients with mild to moderate AD, who had taken part in one of three placebo-controlled trials where patients received either donepezil or placebo, were then followed in open-label extension studies in which all patients had been treated with donepezil.

Researchers statistically analyzed the times to nursing home placement for dementia-related reasons as a function of the different periods of treatment. These estimates took into account the patient's age, gender and severity of illness--as measured by the MMSE--at the time of entry into a clinical trial, as well as changes in caregiver and the patient's use of other cholinesterase-inhibiting medication after completing participation in the donepezil trial.

What the study showed is that patients treated with donepezil for longer periods (from 9-12 months) had a 21-month longer delay to nursing home placement than did patients who received limited or no donepezil.

It is believed that a delay in the time to placement in nursing homes or health institutions of patients with dementia will have tremendous positive financial benefits for the Canadian Healthcare system.