Review: selegiline leads to a small short term improvement in cognition and activities of daily living in Alzheimer's disease.

Study selection Studies were selected if they were unconfounded, double blind, randomised controlled trials that compared selegiline with placebo in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Studies had to have been reported before the end of 1998; patients had to meet NINCDSADRDA or DSM criteria for Alzheimer’s disease; and any secondary treatments (eg, physostigmine and lecithin) had to be given to both the selegiline and placebo groups.