Health
Alzheimer's drug shows some benefit
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Aug. 9, 2004
People with mild cognitive impairment who took the drug donepezil were at reduced risk of progressing to Alzheimer's disease for the first 18 months of a 3-year-study compared with those who were given a placebo, according to preliminary data from a clinical trial supported by the National Institute on Aging.
However, the reduced risk of progressing to Alzheimer's disappeared after 18 months, and, by the end of the study, the probability of progressing was the same for the two groups. Over the course of the three-year study, the participants with mild impairment on donepezil averaged 661 days until a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, while those on placebo averaged 484 days.
The Memory Impairment Study was conducted nationwide at 69 sites and involved 769 participants with mild cognitive impairment who were tested for Alzheimer's disease at 6-month intervals. The average age of participants was 73.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/08/09/hlbf0809.htm.
