Publications by authors named "Megan Del Valle"
The association between Alzheimer's disease symptom severity and caregiver outcomes: a cross-sectional study.
Prim Care Companion CNS Disord
June 2013
Objective: To determine the association between Alzheimer's disease (AD) symptom severity and caregiver outcomes.
Method: This was a database analysis of the Alzheimer's Disease Caregiver Study, a cross-sectional, caregiver-reported study conducted in 2007. Data were collected nationwide via the Internet and in 8 cities: Detroit, Michigan; Knoxville, Tennessee; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Phoenix, Arizona; St Louis, Missouri; and Washington, DC.
Objective: Given its complexity, there is growing consensus on the need to measure patient-rated broad outcomes like health-related quality of life (HRQL) as well as discrete functions like cognition and behaviour in dementia. This review brings together current data on the distribution, determinants and course of HRQL in dementia to investigate the predictive and explanatory value of measures of HRQL in people with dementia.
Design: A systematic review of papers in English published up to October 2007 to identify data on the use of disease-specific measures of HRQL in dementia.
Background: Defining treatment success in progressive diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), can be challenging.
Objective: To explore the impact of employing different criteria to define a treatment 'responder' using analyses of patient-level data from randomized, placebo-controlled studies of donepezil in AD.
Methods: Trials were included in the analysis if they met several criteria, including the following: randomized, placebo-controlled trial of donepezil 10 mg/day in mild-to-moderate AD; cognition measured by the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale (ADAS-cog) or Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE); and a 24-week endpoint and outcomes that included global assessments.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the usage patterns of cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) for Alzheimer's treatment, focusing on factors like monthly prevalence, nonpersistence, and switching rates among different ChEIs over a three-year period.
- It utilizes data from over 1.47 million Medicare beneficiaries, identifying individuals aged 65 and older who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and had prescription claims for donepezil, galantamine, or rivastigmine.
- The research employs advanced statistical models to analyze how demographics and health factors influence ChEI usage and its correlation with overall healthcare costs.
In increasingly aging societies throughout the developed and developing world, Alzheimer's disease and related dementias are fast becoming a critical public health issue, exacting an enormous toll on individuals and healthcare systems. Over the past 10 years, five drugs have been developed and approved for the symptomatic treatment of Alzheimer's dementia, and several disease-modifying drugs are in various stages of clinical development. While symptomatic medications were consistently shown to have clinical benefit in numerous efficacy studies, the cost effectiveness of antidementia therapies and their value to healthcare systems remain unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To examine the change in Framingham risk score (FRS) arising from short-term treatment with ziprasidone or olanzapine.
Method: Hospitalized adults with a primary DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizo-affective disorder were randomly assigned to 6 weeks of double-blind treatment with ziprasidone or olanzapine from November 21, 1998 to September 28, 2000. Data on fasting lipid levels were collected at screening and endpoint, and blood pressure was measured at screening and baseline and weekly until week 6 of treatment (or last visit).
Background: While vascular dementia (VaD) is the second most prevalent dementia diagnosis, little is known about healthcare use and costs for VaD.
Purpose: This study compares the healthcare use and costs of community-dwelling patients with VaD to patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), other dementias (OD), cerebrovascular disease without dementia (CVD), and patients without dementia or cerebrovascular disease (controls).
Methods: Using diagnoses codes from medical claims and encounter records, 678 VaD, 1,722 AD, 957 OD, 2,718 CVD, and 14,023 controls were identified from patients enrolled in a 100,000-member group practice Medicare HMO during 1999-2002.