Skip to main content
eScholarship
Open Access Publications from the University of California

UC San Diego

UC San Diego Previously Published Works bannerUC San Diego

Unmasking the benefits of donepezil via psychometrically precise identification of mild cognitive impairment: A secondary analysis of the ADCS vitamin E and donepezil in MCI study

Published Web Location

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5738722/
No data is associated with this publication.
Abstract

Introduction

Criteria for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) used in many clinical trials are susceptible to "false-positive (FP)" errors that can be avoided by an actuarial psychometric approach.

Methods

Cluster analysis was applied to baseline neuropsychological test data from 756 MCI participants in the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study donepezil trial. Treatment groups were compared after FP MCI cases were removed.

Results

Cluster analyses revealed three groups: "single-domain amnestic MCI" (31%), "multi-domain amnestic MCI" (39%), and "FP MCI" (30%). After removing FP MCI cases, the donepezil treatment group had a lower rate of progression to Alzheimer's disease and better performance on cognitive tests than the placebo/vitamin E group.

Discussion

Removal of FP MCI diagnoses unmasked beneficial effects of donepezil, despite a 30% reduction in sample size. MCI subject selection based on actuarial methods with comprehensive neuropsychological test data can result in more efficient clinical trials and improved ability to detect treatment effects.

Many UC-authored scholarly publications are freely available on this site because of the UC's open access policies. Let us know how this access is important for you.

Item not freely available? Link broken?
Report a problem accessing this item