Satisfaction With Orodispersible vs Conventional Memantine in Moderate to Severe Alzheimer's Disease

Inclusion criteria

• Patients with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease were selected according to the criteria of the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association (NINCDS-ADRDA).
• Patients had moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease, based on the following assessments:

Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score ≤ 18 in patients with more than 12 years of education; or Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score ≤ 18 in patients with more than 12 years of education.

Katz Index of Activities of Daily Living score ≤ 6 and Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living scale score < 6 out of 8.

Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scale score of 2 or 3.

• Patients were considered eligible when memantine was selected as the therapeutic option for Alzheimer's disease, according to the treating physician's clinical judgment.
• Only patients who were prescribed memantine for the first time were included.
• Patients were included if they attended the clinical visit accompanied by their primary caregiver, and if the caregiver agreed to participate and signed the corresponding informed consent.
• The primary caregiver had Spanish as their native language or demonstrated functional proficiency in the language.

Exclusion criteria

• Patients with a diagnosis of preclinical Alzheimer's disease were excluded.
• Patients with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease at a stage other than moderate to severe were excluded, based on any of the following scales:

Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score > 18; or Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score > 18.

• Patients with uncontrolled depression (including major depressive disorder) within the last three months were excluded, according to:

Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) (Yesavage), short form, score ≥ 10.

• Patients with uncontrolled anxiety within the last three months were excluded, according to:

Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) score ≥ 8.

• Patients with contraindications or any other condition preventing the use of memantine, in accordance with the approved prescribing information for SINOLVIR® or EUTEBROL®, were excluded.
• Primary caregivers who refused to participate or who were unable to complete the study due to severe sensory impairment or for any other reason were excluded.
• Patients with psychiatric disorders or symptoms of non-Alzheimer's disease origin that were active or decompensated at study entry (e.g., delirium, schizophrenia) were excluded.
• Patients with active alcohol use at study entry were excluded.
• Patients with unstable or uncontrolled neurological conditions, such as active autoimmune or infectious encephalitis, uncontrolled epilepsy, uncontrolled multiple sclerosis, or uncontrolled amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, were excluded.
• Patients with active brain neoplasms at study entry were excluded.