Browsing by Author "Katona, Cornelius"

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    Efficacy of Memantine for Agitation in Alzheimer’s Dementia: A Randomised Double-Blind Placebo Controlled Trial
    (Public Library of Science, 2012) Fox, Chris; Crugel, Monica; Maidment, Ian; Auestad, Bjorn Henrik; Coulton, Simon; Treloar, Adrian; Ballard, Clive; Boustani, Malaz; Katona, Cornelius; Livingston, Gill; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Background: Agitation in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is common and associated with poor patient life-quality and carer distress. The best evidence-based pharmacological treatments are antipsychotics which have limited benefits with increased morbidity and mortality. There are no memantine trials in clinically significant agitation but post-hoc analyses in other populations found reduced agitation. We tested the primary hypothesis, memantine is superior to placebo for clinically significant agitation, in patients with moderate-to-severe AD. Methods and findings: We recruited 153 participants with AD and clinically significant agitation from care-homes or hospitals for a double-blind randomised-controlled trial and 149 people started the trial of memantine versus placebo. The primary outcome was 6 weeks mixed model autoregressive analysis of Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI). Secondary outcomes were: 12 weeks CMAI; 6 and 12 weeks Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPI), Clinical Global Impression Change (CGI-C), Standardised Mini Mental State Examination, Severe Impairment Battery. Using a mixed effects model we found no significant differences in the primary outcome, 6 weeks CMAI, between memantine and placebo (memantine lower -3.0; -8.3 to 2.2, p = 0.26); or 12 weeks CMAI; or CGI-C or adverse events at 6 or 12 weeks. NPI mean difference favoured memantine at weeks 6 (-6.9; -12.2 to -1.6; p = 0.012) and 12 (-9.6; -15.0 to -4.3 p = 0.0005). Memantine was significantly better than placebo for cognition. The main study limitation is that it still remains to be determined whether memantine has a role in milder agitation in AD. Conclusions: Memantine did not improve significant agitation in people with in moderate-to-severe AD. Future studies are urgently needed to test other pharmacological candidates in this group and memantine for neuropsychiatric symptoms.
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    Patients' attitudes of dementia screening across the Atlantic
    (Wiley, 2009-06) Justiss, Michael D.; Boustani, Malaz; Fox, Chris; Katona, Cornelius; Perkins, Anthony J.; Healey, Patrick J.; Sachs, Greg; Hui, Siu; Callahan, Christopher M.; Hendrie, Hugh C.; Scott, Emma; Department of Medicine, IU School of Medicine
    BACKGROUND: Dementia is a common and growing global public health problem. It leads to a high burden of suffering for society with an annual cost of $100 billion in the US and $10 billion in the UK. New strategies for both treatment and prevention of dementia are currently being developed. Implementation of these strategies will depend on the presence of a viable community or primary care based dementia screening and diagnosis program and patient acceptance of such a program. OBJECTIVE: To compare the acceptance, perceived harms and perceived benefits of dementia screening among older adults receiving their care in two different primary health care systems in two countries. DESIGN: A Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Primary care clinics in Indianapolis, USA and Kent, UK. PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of 245 older adults (Indianapolis, n = 125; Kent, n = 120). OUTCOMES: Acceptance of dementia screening and its perceived harms and benefits as determined by a 52-item questionnaire (PRISM-PC questionnaire). RESULTS: Four of the five domains were significantly different across the two samples. The UK sample had significantly higher dementia screening acceptance scores (p < 0.05); higher perceived stigma scores (p < 0.05); higher perceived loss of independence scores (p < 0.01); and higher perceived suffering scores (p < 0.01) than the US sample. Both groups perceived dementia screening as beneficial (p = 0.218). After controlling for prior experience with dementia, acceptance and stigma were marginalized. CONCLUSIONS: Older adults attending primary care clinics across the Atlantic value dementia screening but have significant concerns about dementia screening although these concerns differed between the two countries. Low acceptance rates and high rates of perceived harms might be a significant barrier for the introduction of treatment or preventive methods for dementia in the future.