Response to cholinesterase inhibitors affects lifespan in Alzheimer's disease

BMC Neurology

Table 3 Factors that affected the lifespan of AD patients after the start of ChEI treatment (final general linear functional models)

	IADL		PSMS
	R = 0.397, R² = 0.158,P < 0.001		R = 0.394, R² = 0.155,P < 0.001
Significant predictors	β (95% CI)	P value	β (95% CI)	P value
Intercept	9.402 (6.526, 12.278)	<0.001	8.430 (5.377, 11.483)	<0.001
IADL or PSMS score at baseline	-0.112 (-0.151, -0.073)	<0.001	-0.170 (-0.262, -0.077)	<0.001
Change in IADL or PSMS score after 6 months of ChEI therapy^a	0.094 (0.026, 0.162)	0.007	0.151 (0.036, 0.267)	0.010
Sex (male = 0, female = 1)	0.910 (0.494, 1.326)	<0.001	1.008 (0.593, 1.424)	<0.001
Antihypertensive/cardiac therapy (no = 0, yes = 1)	-0.611 (-1.021, -0.201)	0.004	-0.551 (-0.963, -0.140)	0.009
Antidiabetics (no = 0, yes = 1)	-1.543 (-2.536, -0.551)	0.002	-1.672 (-2.669, -0.675)	0.001
Age at first assessment (years)	-0.043 (-0.075, -0.011)	0.009	-0.053 (-0.085, -0.021)	0.001
Education (years)	-0.090 (-0.174, -0.006)	0.036	-0.098 (-0.183, -0.013)	0.024
MMSE score at baseline		ns	0.061 (0.006, 0.115)	0.030
ChEI dose^b	0.019 (0.008, 0.031)	0.001	0.017 (0.005, 0.029)	0.005

Apolipoprotein E genotype, solitary living, age at onset, number of medications and specific concomitant medications (lipid-lowering agents, estrogens, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs/acetylsalicylic acid, antidepressants, antipsychotics, and anxiolytics/sedatives/hypnotics) used at the start of ChEI treatment (baseline) were not significant.
β values were unstandardized and are expressed per 1 unit increase for continuous variables, and for the condition present for dichotomous variables.
^aFor clarity, clinical improvements for all scales were calculated as positive changes from baseline.
^bMean percentage of the maximum recommended dose during the first 6 months of ChEI therapy, i.e., 10 mg for donepezil, 12 mg for rivastigmine, and 24 mg for galantamine.
Abbreviations: ChEI cholinesterase inhibitors, CI confidence interval, IADL Instrumental Activities of Daily Living, MMSE Mini-Mental State Examination, ns not significant, PSMS Physical Self-Maintenance Scale.

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