Alzheimer's disease - Safety and dropout in long-term galantamine treatment in a routine clinical setting

276 patients with Alzheimer's disease receiving galantamine in the Swedish Alzheimer Treatment Study were investigated for safety and dropout. Completion rates and reasons for dropout were monitored. The occurrence and time of death was investigated. Galantamine was well tolerated and few side effects were observed. The most frequent cause of dropout during the first year was side effects (n=9), the second and third year, because of adding memantine, which was overall the most frequent cause for dropout (28%). The observed death rate in the study population was not higher than in the average Swedish population (matched for age and gender). Completion-rates were high (51%) compared to previous 3-year studies of cholinesterase inhibitor treated patients.