Consequently, the number of assessments and the duration between repeated assessments within patients were not fixed. The median duration of follow-up of the eligible sample was 28.7 months (range 5–85). The duration of follow-up in the mixed AD group (median 28.2 months; range 5–85) was not significantly different to that of the pure AD group (median 36.0 months; range 8–82), although it was slightly GSK3235025 cell line longer for the pure AD group on average. The median number of assessments per patient was six (range 2–10) and was slightly higher, on average, for check details the pure AD group, possibly owing to the slightly longer follow-up (Table 1). 3.3 Use of Cognitive Enhancers Overall, i.e. based on the

number of patients who received any of the cognitive enhancers considered at least once, the most commonly used cognitive enhancer was rivastigmine in patch or oral form (57.6 %), followed by donepezil (37.0 %), memantine (20.0 %), and galantamine (13.3 %). Rivastigmine was the most prescribed first-line treatment, whereas galantamine and memantine were the most prescribed second-line treatments. The same pattern of prescription was observed

HMPL-504 order for both mixed AD and pure AD groups. The majority (75.2 %) of the study sample were managed based on monotherapy with a cognitive enhancer, while the cognitive enhancer for some patients was switched once (21.8 %) or twice (3.0 %). The median time to the first switch of cognitive enhancers, mostly due to intolerance or side effects, was 4.8 months (range 0.5–30). Patients with mixed AD had a slightly longer median time

to first switch (5.2 months [range 1–30]) than patients with pure AD (3.0 months [range 0.5–7]) (Table 2). Table 2 Cognitive enhancers and treatment characteristics Characteristic AD + svCVD [137 (83 %)] Pure AD [28 (17 %)] Total [165 (100 %)] Treatment characteristics p value Number of treatments per patient, n (%)  1 101 (73.7) 23 (82.1) 0. 4730a,b  2 31 (22.6) 5 (17.9)    3 5 (3.6) 0 (0.0)   Total duration of treatment (months)  Mean (SD) 29.8 (17.98) 31.4 (22.88) 0.7228c  Median (min, max) 27.7 (4, 85) 31.3 (3, 82) 0.9931d Duration of first-line treatment for patients selleck compound with more than 1 treatment  n 36 5    Mean (SD) 9.0 (8.14) 3.8 (2.53) –  Median (min, max) 5.2 (1, 30) 3.0 (0.5, 7) 0.1404d AD Alzheimer’s disease, SD standard deviation, svCVD small vessel cerebrovascular disease a p value based on Fisher’s exact test b p value calculated using dichotomized variable (one vs. more than one) c p value based on two-sample t-test with unequal variance d p value based on Wilcoxon rank sum (Kruskal–Wallis) test 3.4 Outcomes Loess line plots of MMSE and MoCA scores over time by diagnosis groups indicated the plausibility of an average linear profile over time (Fig. 2b, d). Similarly, patient level loess line plots of MMSE and MoCA scores over time indicated an approximate linear profile over time (Fig. 2a, c).