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Combination benefit of cognitive rehabilitation plus donepezil for A lzheimer's disease patients
Author(s) -
Matsuzono Kosuke,
Hishikawa Nozomi,
Takao Yoshiki,
Wakutani Yosuke,
Yamashita Toru,
Deguchi Kentaro,
Abe Koji
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
geriatrics and gerontology international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1447-0594
pISSN - 1444-1586
DOI - 10.1111/ggi.12455
Subject(s) - donepezil , medicine , rehabilitation , ambulatory , cognitive rehabilitation therapy , hyperintensity , cognition , pharmacotherapy , combination therapy , magnetic resonance imaging , physical therapy , dementia , disease , psychiatry , radiology
Objects A lzheimer's disease ( AD ) is one of the most important diseases in aging society, and non‐drug therapy might be an alternative therapeutic approach. Thus, we evaluated the add‐on effect of cognitive rehabilitation on AD patients under donepezil treatment. Methods We retrospectively analyzed 55 AD patients with a M ini‐ M ental S tate E xamination score of 15–25, dividing them into two groups depending on whether they were receiving ambulatory cognitive rehabilitation (group D + R , n = 32) or not (group D , n = 23) in K urashiki H eisei H ospital over 1 year. The present cognitive rehabilitation included physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy for 1–2 h once or twice a week. Results Between group D and group D + R , there was no significant difference in baseline data, such as age, M ini‐ M ental S tate E xamination score, periventricular hyperintensity on magnetic resonance imaging, deep white matter hyperintensity on magnetic resonance imaging or donepezil dose (4.1 mg/day). At 1 year later, however, the M ini‐ M ental S tate E xamination score improved only in group D + R from 21.7 to 24.0 (** P < 0.001), whereas that of group D remained at 21.5 with both groups of donepezil 5.0 mg/day. Conclusion The combination of cognitive rehabilitation plus a choline esterase inhibitor donepezil showed a better effect for the cognitive function of AD patients than drug only therapy at 1 year. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2016; 16: 200–204.