The significance level was set at p < 0.05 for each. Results No significant differences were seen between the memantine therapy group and the control group in the baseline NPI total score, the baseline MMSE score, the mean daily dose of the previous treatment drug, the

mean duration of illness, or the mean age of Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the patients (Table 1). The mean dosage of memantine at the endpoint was 16.5 ± 4.6 (mg/day). None of the patients had withdrawn due to psychiatric symptom worsening, adverse reactions, or worsening adherence. Table 1. Subject characteristics. Significant decreases were found in the memantine therapy group in the following NPI total score and

five NPI subscales: delusions, hallucinations, agitation, irritability, and aberrant motor PCI-32765 in vitro behavior, but no significant differences were seen between the memantine therapy group and the control Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical group (Table 2). On the other hand, no changes in the MMSE score were found either in the memantine therapy group or the control group (Table 2). The mean changes from baseline in the risperidone equivalent dose, the diazepam equivalent dose, and the dosage of sodium valproate were significantly Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical higher in the memantine therapy group than in the control group (Table 3). Table 2. Clinical efficacy. Table 3. The change over time in the risperidone equivalent dose, the diazepam Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical equivalent dose and the sodium valproate dose. Discussion No differences were seen in efficacy in the improvement of BPSD between the memantine

therapy group and the control group when inpatients with AD were given memantine for 16 weeks, and the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical efficacy thereof with respect to BPSD was compared with that obtained in the control group, which continued to receive psychotropic drugs. Significant decreases were found in the memantine therapy group in the following five NPI subscales: delusions, hallucinations, agitation, irritability, and aberrant motor behavior. Our findings are therefore consistent with the results of the clinical studies that have been conducted to date [Cummings et al. 2006; Gauthier et al. ever 2008]. Although there have been reports of the concomitant use of memantine and cholinesterase inhibitors being effective against BPSD [Clerici et al. 2011; Cummings et al. 2006], it appears that, in this study, the fundamental effects of memantine on BPSD were obtained in memantine monotherapy. As far as the effects on cognitive function, a secondary outcome measure in this study, were concerned, as in the control group, no changes were found in the MMSE score. The reason that our findings were different than those of overseas clinical studies [Reisberg et al. 2003; Tariot et al.