Alzheimer's drug could slow cognitive decline in Lewy body dementia

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Lewy body dementia is a form of dementia that resembles both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, but studies on long-term treatments are lacking. A new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, highlights the potential cognitive benefits of treatment with cholinesterase inhibitors.

Lewy body disease, which includes Lewy body dementia (DLB) and Parkinson's disease with and without dementia, is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's disease.

DLB accounts for about 10–15 percent of all dementia cases and is characterized by changes in sleep, behavior, perception, movement, and the regulation of automatic body functions.

“There are currently no approved treatments for DLB, so doctors often use anti-Alzheimer's drugs such as cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine to relieve symptoms,” says Hong Xu, assistant professor at the Department of Neurobiology, Nursing Sciences and Society at Karolinska Institutet and lead author of the study. “However, the effectiveness of these treatments remains uncertain due to inconsistent study results and limited long-term data.”

In the current study, researchers examined the long-term effects of cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) and memantine compared with no treatment over a period of up to ten years in 1,095 patients with DLB.