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71/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 71 out of 100. Treatments

Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis

Plain-language summary

This randomized study evaluated the combined effect of a cognitive-communication program plus an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (donepezil; donepezil-plus-stimulation group; n = 26), as compared with donepezil alone (donepezil-only group; n = 28) in 54 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD; Mini-Mental Status Examination score of 12- 28) ranging in age from 54 to 91 years. It was hypothesized that cognitive-communication stimulation in combination with donepezil would positively affect the following: (a) relevance of discourse, (b) performance of functional abilities, (c) emotional symptoms, (d) quality of life, and (e) overall global function, as measured by caregiver and participant report and standardized measures. Cognitive-communication, neuropsychiatric, functional performance, and quality of life evaluations were conducted at baseline and Month 4, the month after the 2-month active stimulation period. Follow-up evaluations were performed at Months 8 and 12. The stimulation program consisted of 12 hr of intervention over an 8-week period and involved participant-led discussions requiring homework, interactive sessions about AD, and discussions using salient life stories. Additive effects of active stimulation with donepezil were examined in 2 ways: (1) comparing mean group performance over time and (2) evaluating change scores from baseline. A Group x Time interaction was found for the donepezil-plus-stimulation group in the emotional symptoms of apathy and irritability as compared with the donepezil-only group. Evaluation of change scores from baseline to 12 months revealed a positive effect for the donepezil-plus-stimulation group on discourse and functional abilities with a trend on apathy, irritability, and patient-reported quality of life. In sum, the research revealed benefits to the donepezil-plus-stimulation group in the areas of discourse abilities, functional abilities, emotional symptoms, and overall global performance. This study adds to growing evidence that active cognitive stimulation may slow the rate of verbal and functional decline and decrease negative emotional symptoms in AD when combined with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, indicating a need to advance research in the area of cognitive treatments. The fact that AD is a progressive brain disease should not preclude ameliorative treatment.

Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

APA 7th

Chapman, S. B., Weiner, M. F., Rackley, A., Hynan, L. S., & Zientz, J. (2004). Effects of cognitive-communication stimulation for Alzheimer's disease patients treated with donepezil. Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2004/085)

Vancouver

Chapman SB, Weiner MF, Rackley A, Hynan LS, Zientz J. Effects of cognitive-communication stimulation for Alzheimer's disease patients treated with donepezil. Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR. 2004. doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2004/085). PMID: 15603468.

BibTeX

@article{chapman2004-15603468,
  author  = {Chapman, S. B. and Weiner, M. F. and Rackley, A. and Hynan, L. S. and Zientz, J.},
  title   = {{Effects of cognitive-communication stimulation for Alzheimer's disease patients treated with donepezil}},
  journal = {Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR},
  year    = {2004},
  doi     = {10.1044/1092-4388(2004/085)},
  pmid    = {15603468},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2004/085)}
}

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How to read this study

Design: this is a trial. Participants are assigned to a treatment or a comparison, so the key questions are who was enrolled, whether the comparison group got a placebo or nothing, how long people were followed, and whether the result is on a measure that matters to patients or on a biomarker. Open-label and small trials can overstate benefit.
Size: the record lists 26 participants. Ask whether that is enough for the question, and who they were.
Effect: the record gives no effect size, so the summary above cannot say how large any difference was.

What the evidence grade means here

This page is graded high. alzhub.org assigns the grade automatically from keywords in the abstract, not from reading the paper. High means the abstract mentions a randomized design, a meta-analysis or a systematic review. It can add at most 5 of the 100 points in the study score, and it is a label about design, not a verdict on whether the findings are true.

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Key findings

This randomized study evaluated the combined effect of a cognitive-communication program plus an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (donepezil; donepezil-plus-stimulation group; n = 26), as compared with donepezil alone (donepezil-only group; n = 28) in 54 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD; Mini-Mental Status Examination score of 12- 28) ranging in age from 54 to 91 years.
It was hypothesized that cognitive-communication stimulation in combination with donepezil would positively affect the following: (a) relevance of discourse, (b) performance of functional abilities, (c) emotional symptoms, (d) quality of life, and (e) overall global function, as measured by caregiver and participant report and standardized measures.
A Group x Time interaction was found for the donepezil-plus-stimulation group in the emotional symptoms of apathy and irritability as compared with the donepezil-only group.
Evaluation of change scores from baseline to 12 months revealed a positive effect for the donepezil-plus-stimulation group on discourse and functional abilities with a trend on apathy, irritability, and patient-reported quality of life.
In sum, the research revealed benefits to the donepezil-plus-stimulation group in the areas of discourse abilities, functional abilities, emotional symptoms, and overall global performance.

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Study details

Participants26
Evidence strengthHigh

How this study scored 71/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a randomized controlled trial. Scored zero for effect reported because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multicenter collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 41 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 71 out of 100.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR)
Journal's citation record	— / 4	No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score
Study design	11 / 12	A randomized controlled trial (from PubMed type “Randomized Controlled Trial”)
Strength of evidence	5 / 5	Rated “high” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	1 / 5	2004 — older than 20 years, still counted
Sample size	1 / 4	26 participants
Effect reported	0 / 3	No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Studied in people	3 / 3	Studied in people (participant count stated)
Randomized / blinded	1 / 2	Randomized (as stated in the record)
Times cited	— / 7	No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score
Citations per year	— / 5	No citation count or no year — left out of this score
Impact for its field and year	— / 6	No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score
Cited by studies here	— / 6	Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score
Still being cited	— / 4	No yearly citation counts — left out of this score
Senior author's track record	— / 4	Senior author's record not available — left out of this score
Institution's track record	— / 3	No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score
Multicenter collaboration	— / 3	Institutions not listed — left out of this score
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 15603468)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Points	41 / 58	Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 41 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 71 out of 100.
Total	71 / 100	—

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Where this led: Donepezil on the treatments page — its current status, approval date, side-effect rate and list price, kept up to date.

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