A 24‐week, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial of donepezil in patients with Down syndrome and Alzheimer's disease—pilot study

Abstract

Donepezil Hydrochloride administered once a day appears to be generally well tolerated and safe in DS adults who have AD. There is some possible efficacy in the treatment of symptoms of mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease in this population, although the sample size of this study was too small for statistical significance. It is recommended that donepezil, with the appropriate precautions, should be considered for the treatment of AD in adults with DS as deemed by a specialist.

Long term safety and efficacy of donepezil in the treatment of dementia in Alzheimer's disease in adults with Down syndrome: open label study

“…Following the completion of the 24-week trial (see Prasher et al, 2002), patients were reviewed to decide whether to continue treatment with donepezil, stop donepezil, initiate active treatment if previously on placebo or continue being off active treatment. 25 subjects (93%) of the 27 that finished the 24-week trial phase were enrolled for this open label study.…”

“…Prasher et al (2002) published findings of a 24-week double blind placebo controlled trial of donepezil in Down syndrome (DS) adults with dementia in Alzheimer's disease (DAD; WHO, 1993). The authors concluded that 'donepezil was generally well tolerated, safe and should be considered for the treatment of DAD in adults with DS'.…”

Review of donepezil, rivastigmine, galantamine and memantine for the treatment of dementia in Alzheimer's disease in adults with Down syndrome: implications for the intellectual disability population

“…In the case of the AChE inhibitors these are related to the cholinergic system. The rate of adverse events are often similar to placebo (Inglis, 2002;Prasher et al, 2002) and are doserelated. The commonly reported adverse events are listed in Table 3.…”

Down's syndrome and dementia

“…There has been limited research showing that donepezil, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, is effective in slowing the decline of functional ability in Alzheimer's disease, but at this stage it is uncertain whether similar gains could be achieved in Alzheimer's disease associated with Down's syndrome. There has been some evidence that these agents may be useful in this group of patients (Prasher et al, 2002;Kishnani et al, 2001), although there have also been concerns that they may be poorly tolerated (Hemingway-Eltomey & Lerner, 1999).…”