Author ORCID Identifier
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-22-2023
Abstract
Background and Aim: Donepezil is a front-line treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. Donepezil treatment is associated with decreased risk of all-cause mortality. Specific protection is observed in pneumonia and cardiovascular disease. We hypothesized that donepezil treatment would improve mortality among Alzheimer’s patients following infection with COVID-19. The objective of this study is to assess the influence of ongoing donepezil treatment on survival in Alzheimer’s disease patients after polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-confirmed COVID-19 infection. Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study. We conducted a national survey of Veterans with Alzheimer’s disease to assess the influence of ongoing donepezil treatment on survival in Alzheimer’s disease patients after PCR-confirmed COVID-19 infection. We assessed all-cause 30-day mortality stratified by COVID-19 infection and donepezil use, estimating odds ratios using multivariate logistic regression. Results: Among people with Alzheimer’s disease and COVID-19, all-cause 30-day mortality was 29% (47/163) for people taking donepezil compared with 38% (159/419) for those who were not. Among people with Alzheimer’s disease without COVID-19, all-cause 30-day mortality was 5% (189/4189) for people taking donepezil compared with 7% (712/10,241) for those who were not. Adjusting for covariates, the decrease in mortality associated with donepezil did not differ between people with and without COVID-19 (interaction p = 0.710) Conclusion: The known survival benefits of donepezil were retained but not found to be specific to COVID-19 among people with Alzheimer’s disease.
Keywords
Alzheimer’s disease, COVID-19, donepezil, drug repurposing, retrospective analysis, SARS-CoV-2, veterans
Language
English
Publication Title
Therapeutic Advances in Infectious Disease
Rights
© The Author(s), 2023. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is properly cited.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Edmiston EA, Bej TA, Wilson B, Jump RLP, Phillips JA. Donepezil-associated survival benefits among Alzheimer’s disease patients are retained but not enhanced during COVID-19 infections. Therapeutic Advances in Infectious Disease. 2023;10. doi:10.1177/20499361231174289
Manuscript Version
Final Publisher Version