The Change of K-MMSE Following Donepezil Medication in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease and Small Vessel Dementia, and the Characteristics of Alzheimer's Disease with Meaningful K-MMSE Change

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Donepezil is a widely used drug for the treatment of patients with Alzheimer's disease(AD). The aim of the present study was to clarify the efficacy and the characteristics of responders to donepezil. METHODS: Patients with probable AD(n=80 ; 75.7 years) and small vessel dementia(SVD)(n=18 ; 77.8 years) who received donepezil were retrospectively analyzed using Alzheimer's registry, and three questions were asked 1) Does donepezil therapy improves cognitive symptoms in patients with dementia? 2) If donepezil improves cognitive symptoms, which items of the K-MMSE are improved? 3) What are the characteristics of responder to donepezil medication? RESULTS: 1) After donepezil medication, cognitive function measured by the K-MMSE was significantly improved in both types of dementia(AD and SVD), However, statistical differences were not found between these groups. 2) In a clinical trial of donepezil, the patients performed better than before mediation on K-MMSE items assessing orientation, recall, construction, concentration, calculation. 3) In AD, the K-MMSE score before medication was closely related with response of donepezil. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that donepezil improves various cognitive functions in both types of dementia, and the responsive group had significantly lower K-MMSE scores than the non-responsive group before medication.