Efficacy of Memantine in Treating Patients with Dementia and Fibromyalgia

Objective:To evaluate the efficacy of Memantineas a therapeutic intervention for dementia and fibromyalgia. Methods: This clinical trial was conducted between October 2014 and December 2014. A total of 60 subjects, with diagnosed dementia or fibromyalgia, presenting to a private neurology clinic in Karachi, Pakistan were selected through purposive sampling technique. Adult patients belonging to both genders were included in the study. Patients were treated with incremental doses of Memantine. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 and associations were made using the Chi square test with p-value of less than 0.05 taken as significant. Results: Out of 30 patients with dementia, 12 (40%) were males and 18 (60%) were females. The mean age of the subjects with dementia was found to be 70 years while that of with fibromyalgia was 38 years. Out of 30 patients with fibromyalgia, 2 (6.7%) were males and 28 (93.3%) were females, which shows a very high occurrence of fibromyalgia in females. The efficacy of the drug in patients with dementia was observed to be 96.7%, whereas in patients with fibromyalgia it was found to be 93.3%, both of which are significantly high. The baseline MMSE score when compared with the score at 3-month follow-up by applying Wilcoxon signed rank test showed mean±SD (17.93±4.69 vs. 23.27±4.69) where p=0.000. The baseline FIQ score when compared with the 3-month follow-up score showed mean ± S.D (67.18±13.23 vs. 34.17±15.18) where p=0.000. Both of these show a highly significant result (?0.05). Results showed that cognitive functions, improved significantly by the end of the 3rd month of treatment in patients with dementia. All of the patients with fibromyalgia reported improvement in their physical functioning and majority of the patients felt less anxious and less depressed on their final follow-up visit. By the end of the 3rd month, the level of stiffness and intensity of the pain decreased significantly and patients reported less difficulty in performing work. Conclusion: Memantine has shown significant beneficial effects in improving cognitive functions in patients with dementia and in reducing the intensity of pain and disability in patients with fibromyalgia.