Combination benefit of cognitive rehabilitation plus donepezil for Alzheimer's disease patients

Objects Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most important diseases in aging society, and non-drug therapy might be an alternative therapeutic approach. Thus, we evaluated the add-on effect of cognitive rehabilitation on AD patients under donepezil treatment. Methods We retrospectively analyzed 55 AD patients with a Mini-Mental State Examination score of 15–25, dividing them into two groups depending on whether they were receiving ambulatory cognitive rehabilitation (group D + R, n = 32) or not (group D, n = 23) in Kurashiki Heisei Hospital over 1 year. The present cognitive rehabilitation included physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy for 1–2 h once or twice a week. Results Between group D and group D + R, there was no significant difference in baseline data, such as age, Mini-Mental State Examination score, periventricular hyperintensity on magnetic resonance imaging, deep white matter hyperintensity on magnetic resonance imaging or donepezil dose (4.1 mg/day). At 1 year later, however, the Mini-Mental State Examination score improved only in group D + R from 21.7 to 24.0 (**P < 0.001), whereas that of group D remained at 21.5 with both groups of donepezil 5.0 mg/day. Conclusion The combination of cognitive rehabilitation plus a choline esterase inhibitor donepezil showed a better effect for the cognitive function of AD patients than drug only therapy at 1 year. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2015; ●●: ●●–●●.