Key result
Donepezil significantly reduced heart rate variability in patients with dementia, with median high frequency power decreasing from 581 to 78 ms2 (p=0.001).
Why the study?
Does donepezil affect heart rate variability in patients with Alzheimer's disease or dementia with Lewy bodies?
Does donepezil affect heart rate variability in patients with Alzheimer's disease or dementia with Lewy bodies?
Absolute Event Rate: 78% vs 581%
p-value: p=0.001
Donepezil significantly reduces heart rate variability in patients with dementia, suggesting a potential adverse effect on cardiovascular autonomic control.
May warrant autonomic monitoring with donepezil in dementia; case report leaves open clinical relevance.
Heart rate variability is used to assess cardiovascular autonomic function. The cholinesterase inhibitor donepezil potentially affects parasympathetic activity. Twenty participants with Alzheimer's disease or dementia with Lewy bodies were treated with donepezil in a pilot study. Power spectral analysis was used to analyse 5 min of beat-to-beat RR interval data in 15 cases. Heart rate variability was significantly reduced following treatment with donepezil; mainly for high frequency (median changed from 581 to 78 ms2; p = 0.001) but also for total power (median changed from 1,563 to 844 ms2; p = 0.047). Donepezil may adversely influence cardiovascular autonomic control. These results indicate the need for larger controlled trials to further investigate the cardiovascular effects of donepezil.
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McLaren et al. (2003) studied Alzheimer's disease or dementia with Lewy bodies (n=20). Donepezil vs. Baseline (pre-treatment) was evaluated on Heart rate variability (high frequency power) (p=0.001). Donepezil significantly reduced heart rate variability in patients with dementia, with median high frequency power decreasing from 581 to 78 ms2 (p=0.001).