To determine patient and caregiver judgements about changes in cognitive, behavioural, and functional areas after intervention with Souvenaid, the MEMENTO study was undertaken in 500 patients attending Alzheimer’s Evaluation Units in 30 Italian centres. This observational study recorded responses to standardised questions on cognitive (e.g., memory of appointments/dates, orientation in new places), behavioural (e.g., apathy/loss of interest, sleep disturbances), and functional (e.g., household activities, reading) areas of ‘real life’.
Patients took Souvenaid for an average of 4 months and depending on the cognitive/functional or behavioural domain area being assessed, 28.6-49.6% of caregivers provided a positive judgement on the product’s effectiveness particularly for ‘memory of appointments, apathy and domestic activities’. Depending on the domain area, 36.2-46.2% of patients provided a positive judgement of supplement use particularly for ‘memory and mood’. Overall, caregivers of patients with MCI and higher Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores reported statistically significant positive judgements of effectiveness compared to caregivers of AD patients in several areas questioned (see table 3 in publication). Furthermore, patients with higher duration of use of the supplement reported a higher benefit for its use.
This study confirms the findings of randomized clinical trials on use of Souvenaid but by caregivers and patients in ‘real life’ behavioural and functional areas as well as cognition. It also supports the idea that use of the supplement should be early in the disease progression, and it should be taken for a prolonged period of time.