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New class of drug helps people with severe dementia and their carers
September 16, 2003Research news in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
16 September 2003: The major costs incurred by dementia are attributable to people who are severely affected by the disease; until recently the drugs available for treating dementia were effective only in mildly or moderately affected people. Increasing evidence now shows, however, that new classes of drugs, such as the NMDA receptor antagonist memantine, can help patients with moderately severe to severe dementia.
The most recent evidence comes from a 166-patient study of people with dementia, known by doctors as the M-BEST trial (Benefit and Efficacy in Severely demented patients during Treatment with Memantine). This supports data from other studies carried out in the US, Britain and France.
Publishing the work this month in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, the authors address the financial implications of introducing new drugs into this area of healthcare.
The introduction of a new drug such as memantine bears inevitable costs in itself. Furthermore, the addition of medication into a dementia sufferer's therapy requires the involvement of health care professionals-a costly and limited resource. But lead author Prof Bengt Winblad who works at the Karolinska Institute's Alzheimer's Disease Research Centre in Huddinge, Sweden, believes that these expenses will be more than off-set by reduced costs associated with caring for these patients, as they will be able to live more independent lives and fewer will progress to expensive institutionalisation.
The authors point out that even a mild improvement in a person's mental health can result in savings of $2000 per year, while more marked improvements could save as much as $12000 per year.
With the tendency of people to live longer, there is a dramatic increase in numbers of people with dementia in general and Alzheimer's disease in particular. "Any reduction in the demands on state or private carers, which could come from improved therapy, is likely to pay significant financial and social benefits," claims Winblad.
John Wiley & Sons
Alzheimer Disease Current Events and Alzheimer Disease News RSSVitamin B does not slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer's
A clinical trial led by Paul S. Aisen, M.D., professor of neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, showed that high-dose vitamin B supplements did not slow the rate of cognitive decline in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer disease.
Protecting patient privacy the new fashioned way
Protecting patient privacy has been recognized as the duty of health-care providers for about as long as doctors have seen patients. In 1996 that duty became a legal obligation when Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
Study confirms benefit of combination therapy for Alzheimer's disease
Extended treatment with Alzheimer's disease drugs can significantly slow the rate at which the disorder advances, and combination therapy with two different classes of drugs is even better at helping patients maintain their ability to perform daily activities.
Seniors with type 2 diabetes may experience memory declines immediately after eating unhealthy meal
Adults with type 2 diabetes who eat unhealthy, high-fat meals may experience memory declines immediately afterward, but this can be offset by taking antioxidant vitamins with the meal, according to new research from Baycrest.
Memory loss linked to common sleep disorder
For the first time, UCLA researchers have discovered that people with sleep apnea show tissue loss in brain regions that help store memory.
Strong associations between disturbed rest/activity rhythms and mortality rates in older men
A research abstract that will be presented on Wednesday at SLEEP 2008, the 22nd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS), is the first to report strong associations between disturbed rest/activity rhythms and mortality rates in older, community-dwelling (non-institutionalized) men.
Hopkins researchers discover new link to schizophrenia
Neuroscientists at Johns Hopkins have discovered that mice lacking an enzyme that contributes to Alzheimer disease exhibit a number of schizophrenia-like behaviors.
A significant difference in the sleep disturbances among Alzheimer patients, caregivers
A study published in the May 1 issue of the journal SLEEP finds that sleep disturbances among Alzheimer patients vary significantly from those of their family caregivers, and that, surprisingly, poor sleep in either the patient or caregiver is not necessarily linked to disturbed sleep in the other.
Alzheimer's vaccine clears plaque but has little effect on learning and memory impairment
A promising vaccine being tested for Alzheimer's disease does what it is designed to do - clear beta-amyloid plaques from the brain - but it does not seem to help restore lost learning and memory abilities, according to a University of California, Irvine study.
Why fish oil is good for you
It's good news that we are living longer, but bad news that the longer we live, the better our odds of developing late-onset Alzheimer's disease.
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