[Efficacy of adjunctive donepezil for cognitive impairments in patients with schizophrenia]

Schizophrenia generally manifests cognitive disorders of subjects affected by this illness. Acetylcholine is the main neurotrasmettitor involved in the modulation of cognitive processes as attention, memory and executive functions. The aim of our study is to examine the effects of anticholinesterasic drugs in addiction to atypical antipsychotics on cognitive functions in subjects with schizophrenia. Participant to the study 14 subjects affected by schizophrenia. Subjects have been divided in two sub-groups on the grounds of pharmachological treatment used. A first group (N= 8) it's been treated only with risperidone (monotherapy group); the second one (N=7) it's been treated with donepezil in addition to risperidone (donepezil+ risperidone group). The group treated with donepezil + risperidone evidenced, after 3 and 6 months, statistically significant improvements in attention, in executive functions and in understanding first order Theory of Mind. Our findings are in agreement with those reported by MacEwan et al. (2001). Even if preliminary, our results prove the effectiveness of using anticholinesterasics drugs in addition to atypical antipsychotic treatment, especially in improving attentive functioning.