[Mortality-associated factors in patients with Alzheimer's disease treated with galantamine]

To study the effect of clinical and demographic variables on mortality in patients with probable Alzheimer's disease treated with the cholinesterase inhibitor galantamine.

This retrospective cohort study reviewed 172 medical records, gathering information such as demographic and clinical variables, adverse events, number of withdrawals and duration of treatment with galantamine.

Of 172 patients, 18.6% had adverse events. Galantamine was well tolerated in 15.4% of patients but they abandoned the treatment because of several reasons after a median duration of treatment of 13.3 months and an average dose of 15.0 mg/day. The overall rate of mortality was 12.5%, being, 19.0% for those who abandoned the treatment and 11.3% for those who dit not. The univariate analysis showed that patients who died were older, had had more antipsychotic medications, had a higher total Blessed score and had suffered from more episodes of heart failure. The associated variables in the multivariate analysis using a binary logistic regression were mortality, sex, age, hypertension, heart failure, arrhythmia, antipsychotic treatment and greater cognitive impairment.

The duration and the dose of treatment with galantamine were not associated with increased mortality. Related variables were an advanced age, male sex, cardiovascular diseases and antipsychotic treatment.