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Use It, or Lose It May Apply to Alzheimers Brains
Study says cognitive stimulation along with drug
slows mental decline
Oct. 21, 2004 - A program of active cognitive
stimulation performed in conjunction with the drug Aricept produces
greater mental and functional benefits in patients in the early stages
of Alzheimer's disease than taking the drug alone, according to a study
conducted by Texas university researchers and funded by the manufacturer
and U.S. distributor of the drug.
The results add to growing evidence that active
cognitive stimulation may slow the rate of verbal and functional decline
and decrease negative emotional symptoms in Alzheimer's patients when
combined with an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor like Aricept (donepezil
hydrochloride), say the researchers.
Fifty-four patients with mild to moderate
Alzheimer's disease, ranging in age from 54 to 91, took part in the
randomized study. Twenty-eight of the patients received Aricept only,
while 26 were given the drug and took part in a cognitive stimulation
program consisting of 12 hours of intervention treatment by
speech-language pathologists over an eight-week period at the beginning
of the one-year study.
The stimulation program consisted of
participant-led discussions requiring homework, reading and discussion
on Alzheimer's treatment and composition of written life stories.
Evaluations of the patients were conducted at the end of the fourth,
eighth and 12th month.
According to the study, the Aricept-plus-stimulation
group showed a slower rate of decline than patients taking Aricept
alone. Specifically, the following benefits were noted:
- Slower rate of disease progression, as measured
by a widely used screening method.
- Reduction in emotional symptoms of irritability
and apathy.
- Maintenance of meaningful verbal communication.
- Improvement in patient-reported quality of life.
- Slower decline in functional abilities.
"For decades, attention has been drawn to the
brain's incredible ability to adapt after stroke and traumatic brain
injury," said Sandra Bond Chapman, Ph.D., director of the UTD Center for
BrainHealth and leader of the study team. "Only recently has the concept
called 'plasticity' been applied to progressive brain diseases such as
Alzheimer's. The UTD-UT Southwestern study supports the idea that it is
possible to stimulate the brain to halt or slow the progression of
early-stage Alzheimer's disease."
Alzheimer's is a complex disease that causes the
gradual loss of brain cells, making it difficult for those who suffer
from it to remember, reason and use language. Approximately 4.5 million
Americans have the disease. Although many things about Alzheimer's
remain a mystery, research continues to yield a better understanding of
the disease, more accurate diagnoses and more effective treatments.
The disease is more common in older adults. About
one in 10 people over the age of 65 have Alzheimer's. As many as five in
10 people over the age of 85 have the disease.
The disease was first described in 1906 by German
physician Dr. Alois Alzheimer. Although the disease was once considered
rare, research has shown that it is the leading cause of dementia.
The study, the results of which are published in
the October issue of the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing
Research, was conducted by researchers at two Dallas-area component
institutions of The University of Texas System -- The University of
Texas at Dallas (UTD) and The University of Texas Southwestern Medical
Center at Dallas (UT Southwestern).
UTD's portion of the research was conducted by
scientists from the Center for BrainHealth, part of the university's
School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
The study was funded by Eisai Co. Ltd., a
Tokyo-based pharmaceutical company that manufactures Aricept, and Pfizer
Inc., of New York, the U.S. distributor of the drug.
Besides Chapman, members of the study team included
three other speech-language pathology researchers -- two from UTD,
Audette Rackley, M.S., and Jennifer Zientz, M.S., and one from UT
Southwestern, Linda S. Hynan, Ph.D. -- and a physician, Myron F. Weiner,
M.D., from UT Southwestern.
Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
