Eligibility for Lecanemab Treatment in the Republic of Korea: Real-World Data From Memory Clinics
Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: We aimed to determine the proportion of Korean patients with early Alzheimer's disease (AD) who are eligible to receive lecanemab based on the United States Appropriate Use Recommendations (US AUR), and also identify the barriers to this treatment. METHODS: We retrospectively enrolled 6,132 patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment or mild amnestic dementia at 13 hospitals from June 2023 to May 2024. Among them, 2,058 patients underwent amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) and 1,199 (58.3%) of these patients were amyloid-positive on PET. We excluded 732 patients who did not undergo brain magnetic resonance imaging between June 2023 and May 2024. Finally, 467 patients were included in the present study. RESULTS: When applying the criteria of the US AUR, approximately 50% of patients with early AD were eligible to receive lecanemab treatment. Among the 467 included patients, 36.8% did not meet the inclusion criterion of a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of ≥22. CONCLUSIONS: Eligibility for lecanemab treatment was not restricted to Korean patients with early AD except for those with an MMSE score of ≥22. The MMSE criteria should therefore be reconsidered in areas with a higher proportion of older people, who tend to have lower levels of education.
Source: Journal of Clinical Neurology
Institutions: Korea University Guro Hospital, Ewha Womans University, Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital, Soonchunhyang University, Soonchunhyang University Hospital Seoul, Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, Seoul National University, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea St. Vincent's Hospital, Catholic University of Korea, Hanyang University Guri Hospital, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Chung-Ang University Healthcare System, Chung-Ang University, The Catholic University of Korea Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, Ajou University, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Gachon University Medical Center, Inha University, Inha University Hospital
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
Funders: Korea Dementia Research Center, National Research Foundation, Korea University, National Research Foundation of Korea, Iran Telecommunication Research Center, National Research Council of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and ICT, South Korea, Institute for Information and Communications Technology Promotion
OpenAlex ID: W4409440549