Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To analyze mortality data from patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), Alzheimer's plus cerebrovascular disease (AD + CVD) or vascular dementia (VaD).

METHODS:

(1) Meta-analysis of mortality data from double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trials; and (2) recontact study to collect additional longer term mortality data from previous galantamine trial participants. RESULTS (META-ANALYSIS): Across 12 trials (< or =6 months duration), there was no increased risk of mortality associated with the use of galantamine (n = 4116) compared with that of placebo (n = 2386) (OR galantamine/placebo: 0.67, 95% CI 0.41-1.10). RESULTS (RECONTACT STUDY): Median survival was 79 months for patients with AD (n = 478) and 59 months for patients with AD + CVD (n = 180) or VaD (n = 145). Prolonged galantamine treatment (> vs < or =6 months) was not associated with decreased survival time (75 vs 61 months respectively; P = 0.02). Cox regression analyses were consistent with the Kaplan-Meier analyses.

CONCLUSIONS:

We found no short-term or longer term evidence of increased risk of mortality associated with the use of galantamine in patients with AD, AD + CVD or VaD.