Combination benefit of cognitive rehabilitation plus donepezil for Alzheimer's disease patients

• Published in: Geriatrics & gerontology international 2016-02, Vol.16 (2), p.200-204
• Main Authors: Matsuzono, Kosuke, Hishikawa, Nozomi, Takao, Yoshiki, Wakutani, Yosuke, Yamashita, Toru, Deguchi, Kentaro, Abe, Koji
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Alzheimer Disease - drug therapy; Alzheimer Disease - rehabilitation; Alzheimer's disease; Cholinesterase Inhibitors - therapeutic use; cognitive function; cognitive rehabilitation; Cognitive Therapy; Combined Modality Therapy; dementia; donepezil; Humans; Indans - therapeutic use; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Piperidines - therapeutic use; Rehabilitation; Retrospective Studies; Severity of Illness Index; Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 1444-1586; 1447-0594
• DOI: 10.1111/ggi.12455

Objects Alzheimer'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 Mini‐Mental State Examination 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 Kurashiki Heisei Hospital 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, Mini‐Mental State Examination 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 Mini‐Mental State Examination score improved only in group D + R from 21.7 to 24.0 (**P