| Disease | FIFTY-FOUR ELDERLY PATIENTS LIVING AT HOME, COMPLETED A 3-MONTH, DOUBLE-BLIND, RANDOMIZED, PLACEBO-CONTROLLED TRIAL OF THE EFFECTS OF GINKGO ON BOTH CONGITIVE EFFICIENCY AND THE QUALITY OF LIFE. PATIENTS WERE INCLUDED IN THE STUDY IF THEY SHOWED
MILD SIGNS OF IMPAIRMENT IN EVERYDAY FUNCTION ON THE CRICHTON GERIATRIC RATING SCALE. COGNITIVE EFFICIENCY WAS MEASURED BEFORE AT MONTHLY INTERVALS DURING THE TRIAL USING A BATTERY OF TESTS OF MENTAL ABILITY COMPRISING BOTH COMPUTERIZED AND
PENCIL-AND-PAPER TASKS. THE QUALITY OF LIFE WAS ASSESSED USING A BEHAVIOURAL QUESTIONNARIE WHICH WAS ADMINISTERED BEFORE AND AFTER THE STUDY. INDIVIDUAL ANALYSES OF THE COGNITIVE TESTS WHOSED SOME ADVANTAGE OF GINKGO OVER PLACEBO, BUT WHEN THE
ACCURACY SCORES FROM ALL EIGHT TESTS WERE COMBINED USING TWO DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES, ALTHOUGH BOTH GROUPS IMPROVED OVER TIME, THE IMPROVEMENT WITH GINKGO AT WEEK 12 WAS SIGNIFICANTLY GREATER THAN WITH PLACEBO. NO SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT WERE DETECTED
WITH PLACEBO WHEN THE REACTION TIME MEASURES WERE COMBINED USING THESE TECHNIQUES, WHEREAS BY WEEK 4 THE GINKGO GROUP WERE SIGNIFICANTLY FASTER THAN AT BASELINE, AND WERE SUPERIOR TO PLACEBO THROUGHOUT THE STUDY. THESE IMPROVEMENTS IN MENTAL
EFFICICNEY WERE ACCOMPANIED BY A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN THE INTEREST TAKEN IN EVERYDAY ACTIVITIES, AND SUGGEST THAT THE DRUG MIGHT BE HELPFUL IN TREATING THE EARLY STAGES OF PRIMARY DEGENERATIVE DEMENTIA. |