Withdrawing dementia drug doubles risk of nursing home placement

Withdrawing a commonly-prescribed Alzheimer's disease drug from people in the advanced stages of the disease doubles their risk of being placed in a nursing home within a year, according to UCL research published today in The Lancet Neurology . Researchers funded by the Medical Research Council and Alzheimer's Society followed 295 people with moderate to severe Alzheimer's disease to monitor the effects of continuing or discontinuing the drug donepezil - which is typically withdrawn in the later stages of the disease because of a lack of perceived benefit by clinicians. The participants were randomly selected to either continue donepezil or withdraw from the drug by receiving a placebo. These two groups were then each divided to test the effect of receiving another dementia drug, memantine, or a placebo. The DOMINO trial, conducted by scientists at UCL, found that withdrawing donepezil doubled the risk of nursing home placement after a year. Memantine was not found to have any effect on risk of nursing home placement. In the UK, 70% of care home residents have dementia or severe memory problems.