In the Contempo 1998 article entitled "Memory Loss—When Is It
Alzheimer Disease?" published in the June 3, 1998, issue of THE JOURNAL (1998;279:1689-1690),
the second sentence of the last paragraph, "Currently, pharmacologic approaches
include acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (eg, donepezil) that result in improved
alertness and behavior in approximately 5% of patients," is incorrect. The
following sentences should be substituted: "Currently, pharmacologic approaches
include acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (eg, donepezil), which result in improved
alertness and behavior. In 2 recent randomized controlled trials of 24 and
12 weeks' duration, 25% and 38% of patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer
disease treated with 10 mg/d of donepezil demonstrated improvement on a measure
of global function compared with 11% and 18% of patients treated with placebo,
respectively. Statistically significant improvement in cognitive function
was also observed in the treatment groups compared with the groups receiving
placebo (Rogers SL, Farlow MR, Doody RS, Mohs R, Friedhoff LT, and the Donepezil
Study Group. A 24-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of donepezil
in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Neurology.
1998;50:136-145; Rogers SL, Doody RS, Mohs RC, Friedhoff LT, and the Donepezil
Study Group. Donepezil improves cognition and global function in Alzheimer
disease: a 15-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Arch Intern Med. 1998;158:1021-1031).”