Alzheimer’s Drug May Slow Progression of Lewy Body Dementia

Lewy body disease, particularly dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), affects a significant portion of dementia patients and is marked by a variety of symptoms including sleep disruptions and cognitive impairments.

Recent research at Karolinska Institutet investigated the long-term effectiveness of cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine in managing DLB. The study, involving over a thousand patients, suggests that cholinesterase inhibitors not only slow cognitive decline over five years but also decrease mortality risk in the first year post-diagnosis, though these observations are limited by the study’s non-experimental design.

Lewy body disease, which includes dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Parkinson’s disease with and without dementia, is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, following