VALUTAZIONE DELLA RISPOSTA ALLA TERAPIA CON ANTICOLINESTERASICI NELLA MALATTIA DI ALZHEIMER MEDIANTE STATISTICA SU CASO SINGOLO (N=1)

In the pharmacological treatment of Alzheimer's Disease (AD), evaluation of a cognitive gain or the extinction of some behavioral abnormalities is carried out before and after the pharmacological treatment by means of special tests, scales and/or questionnaires (eg, MMSE, ADAS-cog, NPI, etc.). However, an increase of only a few points in a test or subtest scale has little statistical value per se. Minimal changes in the procedures of carrying out the test or the mood and cognitive state of the patient may account for these differences. Some clinicians also have limited their examinations to subjective impressions rather than real findings of improvement, stability or worsening after treatment. The so-called Clinicians's Interview Based Impression of Change proves to be the a paradigm with a high risk of subjectivity. This work aims to develop a more effective method for evaluating, in AD patients, the effect of therapy cholinesterase inhibitors on mnesic performance through a single case experimental design (N = 1) using the statistical test C. This statistic calculates the probability that the points of a time series are arranged at random or in a statistically significant order, so providing information about the trend of a certain treatment.