Journal of International Psychiatry

Abstract: Objective To investigate the effects of donepezil single-dose sequential therapy in the treatment of vascular dementia (VD). Methods 60 cases of patients with VD who were treated in our hospital from May 2012 to May 2014 were included in the study. According to the random number table method, the patients were divided into group A, B and C with 20 cases in each group. Group A group was treated with donepezil single-dose sequential therapy. In the 1st to 24th week, the patients orally took donepezil 5mg/d, in the 25th ~ 36th week, 5mg every other day and in the 37th to 48th week, medication stopped. Group B was treated with oral administration of memantine hydrochloride 20mg, and group C was treated with placebo. The total course of treatment was 48 weeks in the 3 groups. The clinical curative effect and adverse drug reactions were evaluated. The Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (Chinese version) (MOCA) were used to evaluate cognitive function, and the activities of daily living (ADL) scale (Barthel index) was used to evaluate the independent living ability; The Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) was used to evaluate the symptoms of mental behaviors of subjects. Results The total effective rate of treatment in group A was 90.0%. Compared with that in group B (75.0%) and group C (65.0%), there were no significant differences (P＞0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence rate of adverse drug reactions between group A (20.0%) and group B (15.0%) (P＞0.05). After treatment, the scores of MMSE, ADL and MOCA in group A were higher than those in group B and group C while NPI score was lower than that in group B and group C (P＜0.05). Conclusion There was no significant difference in effects between donepezil single-dose sequential therapy and memantine hydrochloride in the treatment of VD. However, the former has more advantages in improving cognitive function.

Key words: Vascular dementia; Donepezil; Cognitive function; Ability of daily living