Table 3.
Switching protocols used in case studies by Shua‐Haim et al., switching a total of 400 patients from oral donepezil, galantamine, and rivastigmine to the rivastigmine patch, and all adverse events reported [28, 29, 30, 31]
| Previous medication | Switching protocola | Patients reporting AEs after switching to 9.5 mg/24 h rivastigmine patch, n (%)b | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tiredness/sleepiness | Skin rash | Nausea | ||
| Donepezil 5–10 mg/day (n = 116) | 4.6 mg/24 h rivastigmine patch, titrated to 9.5 mg/24 h patch after one month | 18 (15.5) | 3 (2.5) | – |
| Donepezil 10 mg/day (n = 56) | 4.6 mg/24 h rivastigmine patch plus 5 mg/day donepezil, titrated to 9.5 mg/24 h patch and donepezil tablets discontinued after one month | 7 (12.5) | 3 (5.3) | – |
| Galantamine 8–24 mg/day (n = 136) | 4.6 mg/24 h rivastigmine patch titrated to 9.5 mg/24 h patch after one month | 11 (8.1) | 1 (0.7) | – |
| Rivastigmine capsules 3–6 mg/day (n = 16) | 4.6 mg/24 h rivastigmine patch titrated to 9.5 mg/24 h patch after one month | 7 (7.6) | 4 (4.3) | 3 (3.2) |
| Rivastigmine capsules 9–12 mg/day (n = 76) | 9.5 mg/24 h rivastigmine patch | |||
aEach switching protocol required patients to discontinue original medication on the day prior to the switch, starting on the new regime on the following day.
bOnly pooled data were available for patients switching from rivastigmine capsules 3–6 and 9–12 mg/day.