I have found a paper dealing with this topic:
Donepezil and life expectancy in Alzheimer’s disease: A retrospective analysis in the Tajiri Project by Kenichi MeguroEmail author, Mari Kasai, Kyoko Akanuma, Mitsue Meguro, Hiroshi Ishii and Satoshi Yamaguchi
However, the paper does not give information about the possible synergetic effects between concomitant cardiovascular disease and the use of Donepezil which may enhance the severity of side effects.
In addition, I would be interested in studies of the same type where the combination of Donepezil and Nemantine side effects are assessed at the same time to unveil possible synergies between these two drugs.
I would be also interested in studies assessing Donepezil side effects on patients that were already suffering from some kind of chronic cardiovascular disease before the beginning of AD treatment.
I know I could try to improve my queries to databases and/or follow up the reference cited in this article to try to find this information myself, but there are so many experts out there that I feel I can learn faster if you can help guiding me through recent relevant literature
Thank you in advance,
David.
Donepezil and life expectancy in Alzheimer’s disease: A retrospective analysis in the Tajiri Project
Kenichi Meguro,corresponding author1,2 Mari Kasai,1 Kyoko Akanuma,1 Mitsue Meguro,1 Hiroshi Ishii,1,2 and Satoshi Yamaguchi
Abstract
Background
Cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) such as donepezil have the effect of delaying progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but their effect on life expectancy is unclear. We analyzed the influence of donepezil on life expectancy after onset of AD, together with the effects of antipsychotic drugs and residency in a nursing home.
Methods
All outpatients at the Tajiri Clinic from 1999–2012 with available medical records and death certificates were included in a retrospective analysis. The entry criteria were a dementia diagnosis based on DSM-IV criteria and diagnosis of AD using NINCDS-ADRDA criteria; medical treatment for more than 3 months; and follow up until less than 1 year before death.
Results
We identified 390 subjects with medical records and death certificates, of whom 275 had a diagnosis of dementia that met the entry criteria. Of 100 patients diagnosed with AD, 52 had taken donepezil and 48 patients had not received the drug due to treatment prior to the introduction of donepezil in 1999 in Japan. The lifetime expectancies after onset were 7.9 years in the donepezil group and 5.3 years in the non-donepezil group. There was a significant drug effect with a significant covariate effect of nursing home residency. Other covariates did not reach a significant level.
Conclusions
Although this report has the limitation of all retrospective analyses: the lack of randomization, we found a positive effect of donepezil on lifetime expectancy after onset of AD. This may be due to a decreased mortality rate caused by reduction of concomitant diseases such as pneumonia. The similar life expectancies in patients taking donepezil at home and those not taking donepezil in a nursing home indicated a positive health economic effect of the drug.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3997195/
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