Effects of Body Weight on the Safety of High-Dose Donepezil in Alzheimer's Disease: Post hoc Analysis of a Multicenter, Randomized, Open-Label, Parallel Design, Three-Arm Clinical Trial

Abstract

Donepezil 23 mg is considered for Alzheimer's disease (AD) to optimize cognitive benefits; however, increased adverse events (AEs) can negatively influence drug adherence. We investigated whether body weight (BW) differs based on the presence of AEs, and which baseline factors were relevant to the safety of high-dose donepezil. BW is the most important factor that correlated with cholinergic AEs. Hence, stepwise dose titration should be considered, particularly in patients with low BW, to minimize the inverse relationship between BW and the occurrence of AEs.