Evaluation of a speech therapy in patients with Alzheimer’s disease under cholinergic treatment: A pilot study

Abstract

The intervention on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has shown that pharmacological treatments with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors are highly beneficial, but there is not much evidence of the efficacy of other treatments, as it is difficult to find non-medicated patients. In the present pilot study, the efficacy of a logopedic intervention was verified in patients with AD in the mild phase, with and without pharmacological treatment. The results show that the logopedic intervention slows the deterioration of the disease. The combination of logopedic intervention and pharmacological therapy is confirmed as the therapeutic option that most benefits the patient, whilst patients who only received one of the treatments showed a more pronounced cognitive deterioration. The conclusions indicate that the pharmacological approach is necessary but insufficient, and that a logopedic intervention may be an adequate and effective complement in AD.