OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to collect real-world cost and HRQOL data, and investigate their associations with multiple disease-severity indicators among AD patients in Thailand.
METHODS: We recruited AD patients aged ≥60 years accompanied by their caregivers at a university-affiliated tertiary hospital. A one-time structured interview was conducted to collect disease-severity indicators, HRQOL, and caregiving information using standardized tools. The hospital's database was used to retrieve healthcare resource utilization occurred over 6 months preceding the interview date. Costs were annualized and stratified based on cognitive status. Generalized linear models were employed to evaluate determinants of costs and HRQOL.
RESULTS: Among 148 community-dwelling patients, average annual total societal costs of AD care were $8014 (95% confidence interval [CI]: $7295-$8844) per patient. Total costs of patients with severe stage ($9860; 95% CI: $8785-$11 328) were almost twice as high as those of mild stage ($5524; 95% CI: $4649-$6593). The major cost driver was direct medical costs, particularly those incurred by AD prescriptions. Functional status was the strongest determinant for both total costs and patient's HRQOL (P value
MATERIAL AND METHODS: The composition of Danshen water extract was determined using (High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Then Thioflavin T assay was used to determined if Danshen water extract could prevent the aggregation of amyloid-β peptide (Aβ). Alzheimer's disease C.elegans model was used to determine the effect of Danshen water extract. Finally, the reactive oxygen species (ROS) was determined using the 2,7-dichlorofuorescein diacetate method.
RESULTS: In this study, we found that standardized Danshen water extract that contains danshensu (1.26%), salvianolic acid A (0.35%) and salvianolic acid B (2.21%) are able to bind directly to Aβ and prevents it from aggregating. The IC50 for the inhibition of Aβ aggregation by Danshen water extract was 0.5 mg/ml. In the AD model of C.elegans, Danshen water extract managed to alleviates the paralysis phenotype. Furthermore, the administration of Danshen water extract displayed antioxidant properties toward the Aβ-induced oxidative stress.
CONCLUSIONS: AD is a widespread neurodegenerative disease attributed to the accumulation of extracellular plaques comprising Aβ. Danshen water extract could significantly reduce the progress of paralysis in the AD model of C. elegans, showing promising results with its antioxidant properties. It can be concluded that Danshen water extract could potentially serve as a therapeutic for AD.