Olfactory Deficits in Mild Cognitive Impairment as a Predictor of Improved Cognition on Donepezil
Overview
- Phase
- Phase 4
- Intervention
- Donepezil
- Conditions
- Mild Cognitive Impairment
- Sponsor
- New York State Psychiatric Institute
- Enrollment
- 41
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- Selective Reminding Test (SRT)
- Status
- Completed
- Last Updated
- 7 years ago
Overview
Brief Summary
Odor identification deficits, which are a result of early Alzheimer's Disease (AD) pathology in the olfactory bulb and tract as well as olfactory projection areas in the medial temporal lobe (entorhinal and piriform cortex and hippocampus), lateral and central orbitofrontal cortex and several other regions, occur in AD and strongly predict mild cognitive impairment (MCI) conversion to AD. Our pilot data, along with converging findings in the literature, suggests that odor identification deficits, both incremental change over time and change in response to an anticholinergic challenge, may be clinically simple, relatively inexpensive, predictors of cognitive improvement with acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (ACheI) treatment with potential clinical implications for predicting improvement and monitoring ACheI therapy.
Detailed Description
In this clinical trial, the investigators will evaluate, treat and follow a broad sample of 60 adult patients with amnestic MCI at New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University Medical Center. Recruitment will be from clinics and/or advertisements. In the protocol, all 60 amnestic MCI patients will receive baseline memory and olfactory assessments and begin treatment with donepezil. Patients will be followed for a total of 1 year. During this time, patients will be monitored closely by the study physician and will receive memory and olfactory assessments at weeks 8, 26, and 52. In addition, an olfactory challenge test will be done at baseline. This project will be of value in the selection of patients with mild cognitive impairment for treatment based on the evaluation of olfaction tests to predict response to donepezil and other ACheI. Since mild cognitive impairment is widespread and Alzheimer's disease represents a major public health problem, this study has considerable public purpose and significance.
Investigators
Davangere P. Devanand
Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Neurology
New York State Psychiatric Institute
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
- •Of either sex, age 55-95 years old
- •Patients who meet criteria for amnestic mild cognitive impairment by meeting all of the following:
- •(i) subjective memory complaints (ii) Wechsler Memory Scale-R Logical Memory combined Story A + B immediate recall score or combined Story A + B delayed recall score or Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test immediate recall or delayed recall score greater than 1.5 Standard Deviation (SD) below norms or Selective Reminding Test immediate recall or delayed recall score greater than 1.5 SD below norms iii) no functional impairment consistent with dementia
- •Folstein Mini Mental State (MMSE) score ≥ 23 out of 30
- •Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) of 0.5 (questionable dementia)
- •Availability of informant
Exclusion Criteria
- •Meets Criteria for dementia by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV (DSM-IV) criteria or probable Alzheimer's disease
- •Meets DSM IV criteria for:
- •(i)schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, other psychosis, or bipolar I disorder (ii)alcohol or substance dependence or abuse (current or within past 6 months)
- •Current untreated major depression or suicidality
- •Parkinson's disease, Lewy body disease, multiple sclerosis, central nervous system infection, Huntington's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, other major neurological disorder.
- •Mental Retardation
- •Clinical stroke with residual neurological deficits. MRI findings of cerebrovascular disease (small infarcts, lacunes, periventricular disease) in the absence of clinical stroke with residual neurological deficits will not lead to exclusion.
- •Patients receiving cholinesterase inhibitors (donepezil, rivastigmine, galantamine) or memantine will be excluded.
- •Acute, severe, unstable medical illness. For cancer, patients with active illness or metastases will be excluded, but past history of successfully treated cancer will not lead to exclusion.
- •Medical contraindication to donepezil treatment or prior history of intolerability to donepezil treatment.
Arms & Interventions
Donepezil Treatment & Atropine Challenge
Atropine nasal spray is administered at baseline for the atropine challenge which involves administration of the 40-item University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) immediately before and 45 minutes after atropine administration. Immediately after the atropine challenge, donepezil treatment is started and continues for 52 weeks.
Intervention: Donepezil
Donepezil Treatment & Atropine Challenge
Atropine nasal spray is administered at baseline for the atropine challenge which involves administration of the 40-item University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) immediately before and 45 minutes after atropine administration. Immediately after the atropine challenge, donepezil treatment is started and continues for 52 weeks.
Intervention: Atropine
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Selective Reminding Test (SRT)
Time Frame: Week 0, Week 8, Week 26, Week 52
The Selective Reminding Test (SRT) is a 12-item test of verbal learning and memory. To administer, the researcher will read aloud a list of 12 words. The participant repeats each word aloud to ensure that the word was heard correctly. Immediately following the reading of all 12 words, the participant is asked to recall as many words as possible within the one minute time limit. The participant is then reminded of the words they did not say and asked to recall the list again. This process is repeated for 6 trials. The total immediate recall is the total number of words recalled by the participant from all 6 trials. This is the number that is reported. Lower scores indicate fewer words recalled and a poorer performance.
Secondary Outcomes
- Clinician's Interview Based Impression of Change Plus Caregiver Input (CIBIC-plus)(Week 8, Week 26, Week 52)
- Total Number of Errors Measured Using the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale - Cognitive (ADAS-Cog)(Week 0, Week 8, Week 26, Week 52)
- Pfeffer Functional Activities Questionnaire (FAQ)(Week 0, Week 4, Week 8, Week 26, Week 52)
- Measurement of Everyday Cognition (Ecog)(Week 0, Week 4, Week 8, Week 26, Week 52)