Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 May 19;27(10):3244.
doi: 10.3390/molecules27103244.

Pharmacological Approaches to the Treatment of Dementia in Down Syndrome: A Systematic Review of Randomized Clinical Studies

Laura Cavalcanti de Oliveira  1 , Daniele de Paula Faria  1
Affiliations
Review

Pharmacological Approaches to the Treatment of Dementia in Down Syndrome: A Systematic Review of Randomized Clinical Studies

Laura Cavalcanti de Oliveira et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Down Syndrome (DS) is considered the most frequent form of Intellectual Disability, with important expressions of cognitive decline and early dementia. Studies on potential treatments for dementia in this population are still scarce. Thus, the current review aims to synthesize the different pharmacological approaches that already exist in the literature, which focus on improving the set of symptoms related to dementia in people with DS. A total of six studies were included, evaluating the application of supplemental antioxidant therapies, such as alpha-tocopherol; the use of acetylcholinesterase inhibitor drugs, such as donepezil; N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists, such as memantine; and the use of vitamin E and a fast-acting intranasal insulin. Two studies observed important positive changes related to some general functions in people with DS (referring to donepezil). In the majority of studies, the use of pharmacological therapies did not lead to improvement in the set of symptoms related to dementia, such as memory and general functionality, in the population with DS.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; cognitive decline; dementia; down syndrome; pharmacological treatment; trisomy 21.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of the search process of the selected studies [28].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Sinet P.M., Theopile D., Rahmani Z., Chettouch Z., Blovin J.L., Prier M., Noel B., Delabar J.M. Mapping of Down syndrome phenotype on chromosome 21 at themolecular level. Biomed. Pharmacother. 1994;48:247–252. doi: 10.1016/0753-3322(94)90140-6. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Asim A., Kumar A., Muthuswamy S., Jain S., Agarwal S. Down syndrome: An insight of the disease. J. Biomed.Sci. 2015;22:41–50. doi: 10.1186/s12929-015-0138-y. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lott I.T., Doran E., Nguyen V.Q., Tournay A., Head E., Gillen D.L. Down syndrome and dementia: A randomized, controlled trial of antioxidant supplementation. Am. J. Med. Genet. Part A. 2011;155:1939–1948. doi: 10.1002/ajmg.a.34114. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rosenbloom M., Barclay T., Johnsen J., Erickson L., Svitak A., Pyle M., Frey W., Hanson L.R. Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Pilot Investigation of the Safety of a Single Dose of Rapid-Acting Intranasal Insulin in Down Syndrome. Drugs RD. 2020;20:11–15. doi: 10.1007/s40268-020-00296-2. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Parizot E., Dard R., Janel N., Vialard F. Down syndrome and infertility: What support should we provide? J. Assist. Reprod. Genet. 2019;36:1063–1067. doi: 10.1007/s10815-019-01457-2. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms