Hydrogen Therapy Boosts Alzheimer's Treatment When Added to Standard Drug
- Authors
- Zhaojun Dan, Haifeng Li, Jin Xie
- Journal
- Medicine
- Year
- 2023
- DOI
- 10.1097/MD.0000000000034382
- Study Type
- Human
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- Alzheimer's Disease
- Body System
- Nervous System
TL;DR
Combining donepezil with hydrogen-oxygen gas inhalation appears to be more effective in treating Alzheimer's disease than donepezil alone.
Key Finding
Patients with Alzheimer's disease who received donepezil combined with hydrogen-oxygen gas inhalation showed significantly greater improvements in cognitive function, daily living abilities, and brain electrical activity markers compared to those receiving donepezil alone.
Summary
This study compared two treatment approaches for Alzheimer's disease in 273 patients: one group received the standard medication donepezil alone, while the other group received donepezil plus inhaled hydrogen-oxygen gas. Researchers measured cognitive function (memory and thinking skills), daily living abilities, and brain electrical activity. The group receiving both treatments showed greater improvements across all measures compared to the donepezil-only group.
Practical Takeaway
This retrospective study suggests that adding hydrogen-oxygen inhalation to standard Alzheimer's treatment may enhance cognitive benefits, though the study design (looking back at past medical records rather than a controlled experiment) limits how definitive these conclusions can be. More rigorous clinical trials would be needed to confirm whether hydrogen-oxygen inhalation is truly beneficial as an add-on therapy for Alzheimer's disease.
Abstract
To investigate the clinical effect of donepezil combined with hydrogen-oxygen mixture inhalation in the treatment of patients with Alzheimer disease (AD), a total of 273 AD patients admitted to our hospital from March 2018 to March 2022 were retrospectively analyzed and assigned into an observation group (n = 138) and a control group (n = 135) according to the different treatment that they received. The control group was treated with donepezil tablets, while the observation group was treated with donepezil tablets combined with hydrogen-oxygen mixture inhalation. The scores of mini-mental state examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognition, activity of daily living scale (ADL) and the P300 event-related potential were compared between the 2 groups. After treatment, MMSE score, MoCA score, and ADL score in both groups increased after treatment (P < .01), while the improvement in the observation group was more significant than that in the control group (P < .001 for MMSE, P = .003 for MoCA, and P = .013 for ADL). The scores of Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognition in the observation group decreased after treatment (P < .05), while the improvement in the observation group was more significant than that in the control group (P = .005). After treatment, the latency of P300 in both groups was shortened (P < .01), and the improvement in the observation group was more significant than that in the control group (P < .001). The amplitude of the observation group increased after treatment (P < .01), and the improvement of the observation group was significant than that of the control group (P = .007). The clinical efficacy of donepezil combined with hydrogen-oxygen mixture inhalation in the treatment of AD is better than that of donepezil alone, which is worthy of further study.