Doskas, Triantafyllos

Fitsioris, Xenofon

Fortos, Andreas

Gatos, Konstantinos

Giatas, Konstantinos

Kontogianni, Vassiliki

Makris, Nikolaos

Mestoussi, Angeliki

Oikonomidis, Dimitrios

Papatriantafyllou, Ioannis

Politis, Antonios

Rigopoulou, Stamatia

Sakka, Paraskevi

Taskos, Nikolaos

Tsolaki, Magdalini

Vagenas, Vassileios

Varelas, Georgios

Vikelis, Michalis

English

PubMed

Fortos Andreas

Gatos Konstantinos

Varelas Georgios

Vagenas Vassileios

Sakka Paraskevi

Rigopoulou Stamatia

Papatriantafyllou Ioannis

Makris Nikolaos

Kontogianni Vassiliki

Fitsioris Xenofon

Politis Antonios

Tsolaki Magdalini

Oikonomidis Dimitrios

Giatas Konstantinos

Doskas Triantafyllos

Taskos Nikolaos

Mestoussi Angeliki

Vikelis Michalis

Directory of Open Access Journals

Annals of General Psychiatry

Galantamine improves cognition, behavioral symptoms and functioning: a 6-month non-interventional study

Triantafyllos Doskas

Konstantinos Giatas

Dimitrios Oikonomidis

Magdalini Tsolaki

Antonios Politis

Xenofon Fitsioris

Vassiliki Kontogianni

Nikolaos Makris

Ioannis Papatriantafyllou

Stamatia Rigopoulou

Paraskevi Sakka

Vassileios Vagenas

Georgios Varelas

Konstantinos Gatos

Andreas Fortos

Nikolaos Taskos

Angeliki Mestoussi

Michalis Vikelis

Crossref

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MEETING ABSTRACT Open Access
Galantamine improves cognition, behavioral
symptoms and functioning: a 6-month
non-interventional study
Triantafyllos Doskas1*, Konstantinos Giatas2, Dimitrios Oikonomidis3, Magdalini Tsolaki4, Antonios Politis5,
Xenofon Fitsioris6, Vassiliki Kontogianni7, Nikolaos Makris8, Ioannis Papatriantafyllou9, Stamatia Rigopoulou10,
Paraskevi Sakka11, Vassileios Vagenas12, Georgios Varelas13, Konstantinos Gatos14, Andreas Fortos15,
Nikolaos Taskos16, Angeliki Mestoussi17, Michalis Vikelis17
From 1st International Congress on Neurobiology and Clinical Psychopharmacology and European
Psychiatric Association Conference on Treatment Guidance
Thessaloniki, Greece. 19-22 November 2009
Background
Acetylcholinestarase inhibitors (AChEIs) are the treat-
ment of choice for mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease
(AD). Switches between AChEIs are usually performed
when the current therapy is not effective or poorly
tolerated.
Aim
To evaluate the effect of Galantamine treatment in cog-
nition, behavioral symptoms and daily functioning of
patients with mild-to-moderate AD.
Methods
6-month, non-interventional, prospective study. Treat-
ment-naïve patients or those who had failed on a pre-
vious AChEI therapy were enrolled. Naïve patients
started treatment on 8 mg daily. Patients switched from
other AChEIs started at galantamine therapeutic levels
-16 mg- or 24 mg if switched from max dose of rivastig-
mine. Efficacy was assessed using Mini Mental State
Examination (MMSE), Neuropsychiatric Inventory
(NPI), Disability Assessment for Dementia (DAD), and
Cornell Scale. Caregivers also rated patient’s condition
using Clinical Global Impression (CGI) scale. Adverse
events were closely monitored
Results
333 patients were enrolled (58.6% female). The mean
age was 73.5 (SD 6.7) and mean time since diagnosis
was 64.2 months (SD 59.1). At the end of the study, the
mean galantamine dose was 22.4 mg/day (SD 3.2).
95,2% of patients (317/333) had received another AChEI
and inadequate response was the most frequent reason
for switching (70.7%).
Efficacy results on all scales had a statistically signifi-
cant improvement from baseline to month 6. MMSE
was increased: 18.7 (SD 4.2) to 19.9 (SD 4.6), p < 0.001;
and DAD also increased:68.9 (21.0) to 73.7 (16.2),
p = 0.004. NPI, Cornell & CGI were decreased: NPI
12.6 (15.5) to 9.9 (13.2), p < 0.001; Cornell 7.0 (7.7) to
4.6 (5.5), p = 0.003; CGI-Caregivers 3.8 (1.1) to 3.6 (1.2),
p < 0.001.
9,9% of patients had at least one adverse event. Most
were mild involving nausea (23.3%), vomiting (18.3%)
and diarrhea (6.7%). 8 SAEs were recorded.
Conclusions
Discontinuation of a previous AChEI with subsequent
treatment with galantamine at a therapeutic dose level
may improve all clinical aspects of AD. The safety pro-
file recorded in everyday clinical practice was similar to
that reported in double-blind, controlled trials of
galantamine.
Author details
1Naval Hospital of Athens, Greece. 2251 General Airforce Hospital, Athens,
Greece. 3Ippokrateio General Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece. 4Private practice,
Thessaloniki, Greece. 5Eginition University Hospital, Athens, Greece.
6Papageorgiou General Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece. 7Private practice,
Athens, Greece. 8Agios Andreas General Hospital, Patras, Greece. 9Private
1Naval Hospital of Athens, Greece
Doskas et al. Annals of General Psychiatry 2010, 9(Suppl 1):S131
http://www.annals-general-psychiatry.com/content/9/S1/S131
© 2009 Doskas et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
practice, Athens, Greece. 10Private practice, Thessaloniki, Greece. 11Hygeia
Diagnostic and Therapeutic Center, Athens, Greece. 12Private practice,
Athens, Greece. 13General Hospital, Giannitsa, Greece. 14Agios Georgios Clinic,
Volos, Greece. 15Dromokaitio Psychiatric Hospital of Attica, Athens, Greece.
16AHEPA University Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece. 17Medical Department
Janssen-Cilag Greece, Athens, Greece.
Published: 22 April 2010
doi:10.1186/1744-859X-9-S1-S131
Cite this article as: Doskas et al.: Galantamine improves cognition,
behavioral symptoms and functioning: a 6-month non-interventional
study. Annals of General Psychiatry 2010 9(Suppl 1):S131.
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Doskas et al. Annals of General Psychiatry 2010, 9(Suppl 1):S131
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Galantamine improves cognition, behavioral symptoms and functioning: a 6-month non-interventional study

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