A clinical and neurophysiological trial on nootropic drugs in patients with mental decline.
The different expressions of mental decline in elderly people, from simple senile benign forgetfulness to SDAT, can be evaluated by psychometric and neurophysiological tests. In the present study, the effects of oxiracetam, piracetam and placebo were compared in a group of elderly subjects. The results of the trial, structured as single blind, clearly showed that nootropics positively effect both clinical and neurophysiological performances and that oxiracetam produces a more pronounced effect when compared to piracetam. In fact, oxiracetam was found more effective in improving psychometric scales such as GDS (clinical performances) as well as the amplitude and the latency of the P300 (neurophysiological performances), which reflect a functional recovery of the cerebral pathways related to attention and memory.