In:
Neurology, Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health), Vol. 92, No. 13 ( 2019-03-26), p. e1447-e1455
Abstract:
To investigate whether longer-term antibiotic treatment improves cognitive performance in patients with persistent symptoms attributed to Lyme borreliosis. Methods Data were collected during the Persistent Lyme Empiric Antibiotic Study Europe (PLEASE) trial, a randomized, placebo-controlled study. Study participants passed performance-validity testing (measure for detecting suboptimal effort) and had persistent symptoms attributed to Lyme borreliosis. All patients received a 2-week open-label regimen of intravenous ceftriaxone before the 12-week blinded oral regimen (doxycycline, clarithromycin/hydroxychloroquine, or placebo). Cognitive performance was assessed at baseline and after 14, 26, and 40 weeks with neuropsychological tests covering the cognitive domains of episodic memory, attention/working memory, verbal fluency, speed of information processing, and executive function. Results Baseline characteristics of patients enrolled (n = 239) were comparable in all treatment groups. After 14 weeks, performance on none of the cognitive domains differed significantly between the treatment arms ( p = 0.49–0.82). At follow-up, no additional treatment effect ( p = 0.35–0.98) or difference between groups ( p = 0.37–0.93) was found at any time point. Patients performed significantly better in several cognitive domains at weeks 14, 26, and 40 compared to baseline, but this was not specific to a treatment group. Conclusions A 2-week treatment with ceftriaxone followed by a 12-week regimen of doxycycline or clarithromycin/hydroxychloroquine did not lead to better cognitive performance compared to a 2-week regimen of ceftriaxone in patients with Lyme disease–attributed persistent symptoms. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT01207739. Classification of evidence This study provides Class II evidence that longer-term antibiotics in patients with borreliosis-attributed persistent symptoms does not increase cognitive performance compared to shorter-term antibiotics.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0028-3878
,
1526-632X
DOI:
10.1212/WNL.0000000000007186
Language:
English
Publisher:
Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Publication Date:
2019
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