|
| Study | Study design | Sample size | Intervention | Time | Apathy as a
primary or
secondary
objective | Apathy
assessment
instrument | Outcome |
|
|
Seltzer et al., 2004 [13] | Randomized placebo-controlled | 153 patients | Donepezil (5–10 mg/day) | 24 weeks | Secondary | Apathy scale | No difference between donepezil and placebo |
|
| Tanaka et al., 2004 [14] | Prospective, open-label | 70 patients | Donepezil (5–10 mg/day) | 12 weeks | Secondary | Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) | Improvement in apathy in 30% of patients (), but significant worsening in 10% of patients |
|
| Rockwood et al., 2007 [15] | Multicenter, open-label | 110 patients | Donepezil (5–10 mg/day) | 24 weeks | Primary | Top Symptoms checklist (TOPS)
NPI | TOPS checklist and NPI apathy scores improved |
|
| Lopez et al., 2008 [16] | Multicenter, open-label | 106 patients | Donepezil (5–10 mg/day) | 12 weeks | Primary | NPI | The NPI subdomain “apathy/indifference” significantly improved () |
|
| Brodaty et al., 2006 [17] | Prospective, open-label, observational | 345 patients | Galantamine (6–24 mg/day) | 24 weeks | Secondary | Clinician's Interview-Based Impression of Change plus Caregiver Input (CIBIC-plus) | Behavior assessment scale stability or improvement of apathy in 87% of patients |
|
| Mega et al., 2005 [18] | Prospective, open-label | 19 patients | Galantamine (24 mg/day) | 8 weeks | Primary | NPI | Galantamine is effective for apathy: change of right ventral putamen metabolic is correlated with change with improvement in apathy (, ) |
|
| Gauthier et al., 2010 [19] | Naturalistic, prospective, open-label, postmarketing, observational | 3,800 patients | Rivastigmine (6–12 mg/day) | 48 week | Primary | Clinical Global Impression of Change Scale (CGIS) | Improvement in CGIS apathy scores; 44.1% (48 weeks) versus 9.2% (baseline) |
|
| Gauthier et al., 2007 [20] | Observational | 2,119 patients | Rivastigmine (6–12 mg/day) | 24 weeks | Primary | CGIS | Improvement in CGIS apathy scores in 62.6% of patients |
|
| Cummings et al., 2005 [21] | Open-label | 173 patients | Rivastigmine (6–12 mg/day) | 26 weeks | Secondary | NPI-Nursing Home (NH) | Decrease in NPI-NH apathy score by 60% () |
|
