Benefits and Harms of Prescription Drugs and Supplements for Treatment of Clinical Alzheimer-Type Dementia
- 19 May 2020
- journal article
- review article
- Published by American College of Physicians in Annals of Internal Medicine
- Vol. 172 (10), 656-668
- https://doi.org/10.7326/m19-3887
Abstract
Effects of drug treatment of clinical Alzheimer-type dementia (CATD) are uncertain. To summarize evidence on the effects of prescription drugs and supplements for CATD treatment. Electronic bibliographic databases (inception to November 2019), ClinicalTrials.gov (to November 2019), and systematic review bibliographies. English-language trials of prescription drug and supplement treatment in older adults with CATD that report cognition, function, global measures, behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), or harms. Minimum treatment was 24 weeks (≥2 weeks for selected BPSD). Studies with low or medium risk of bias (ROB) were analyzed. Two reviewers rated ROB. One reviewer extracted data; another verified extraction accuracy. Fifty-five studies reporting non-BPSD outcomes (most ≤26 weeks) and 12 reporting BPSD (most ≤12 weeks) were analyzed. Across CATD severity, mostly low-strength evidence suggested that, compared with placebo, cholinesterase inhibitors produced small average improvements in cognition (median standardized mean difference [SMD], 0.30 [range, 0.24 to 0.52]), no difference to small improvement in function (median SMD, 0.19 [range, −0.10 to 0.22]), no difference in the likelihood of at least moderate improvement in global clinical impression (median absolute risk difference, 4% [range, 2% to 4%]), and increased withdrawals due to adverse events. In adults with moderate to severe CATD receiving cholinesterase inhibitors, low- to insufficient-strength evidence suggested that, compared with placebo, add-on memantine inconsistently improved cognition and improved global clinical impression but not function. Evidence was mostly insufficient about prescription drugs for BPSD and about supplements for all outcomes. Most drugs had few trials without high ROB, especially for supplements, active drug comparisons, BPSD, and longer trials. Cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine slightly reduced short-term cognitive decline, and cholinesterase inhibitors slightly reduced reported functional decline, but differences versus placebo were of uncertain clinical importance. Evidence was mostly insufficient on drug treatment of BPSD and on supplements for all outcomes. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (PROSPERO: CRD42018117897)This publication has 85 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Safety, Tolerability, and Efficacy of Once-Daily Memantine (28 mg): A Multinational, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial in Patients with Moderate-to-Severe Alzheimer’s Disease Taking Cholinesterase InhibitorsCNS Drugs, 2013
- Donepezil and Memantine for Moderate-to-Severe Alzheimer's DiseaseThe New England Journal of Medicine, 2012
- Systematic Review of Measures of Clinical Significance Employed in Randomized Controlled Trials of Drugs for DementiaJournal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2009
- High-Dose B Vitamin Supplementation and Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer DiseaseJAMA, 2008
- Intake of copper has no effect on cognition in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease: a pilot phase 2 clinical trialJournal of Neural Transmission, 2008
- Prevalence of Dementia in the United States: The Aging, Demographics, and Memory StudyNeuroepidemiology, 2007
- Rivastigmine: a placebo controlled trial of twice daily and three times daily regimens in patients with Alzheimer's diseaseJournal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 2007
- ω-3 Fatty Acid Treatment in 174 Patients With Mild to Moderate Alzheimer Disease: OmegAD StudyArchives of Neurology, 2006
- Memantine Treatment in Patients With Moderate to Severe Alzheimer Disease Already Receiving DonepezilJAMA, 2004
- Measuring inconsistency in meta-analysesBMJ, 2003