Few Older Adults Knowledgeable About Aducanumab for Alzheimer Disease

Less than one-quarter of older adults report they would want to take it

FRIDAY, Feb. 25, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Older adults are neither knowledgeable nor enthusiastic about aducanumab for the treatment of Alzheimer disease, according to a research letter published online Feb. 14 in JAMA Network Open.

Julie Zissimopoulos, Ph.D., from University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and colleagues conducted an online survey (July 15 to August 11, 2021) to assess knowledge and attitudes toward aducanumab among 1,035 U.S. adults aged 55 years and older.

The researchers found that 26.8 percent of respondents reported some or fair amount of knowledge of aducanumab. The median score was 0 for six true or false questions about efficacy, patient population, administration procedure, adverse effects, costs, and U.S. Food and Drug Administration expert panel endorsement. More than four in 10 respondents (43.8 percent) agreed that aducanumab would provide a societal benefit. Just under half of respondents were concerned about costs to individuals (48.9 percent), while slightly fewer were concerned about costs to Medicare (45 percent). Just under one-quarter of respondents (23.2 percent) said they would want to receive aducanumab if they had Alzheimer disease, with individuals aged 60 to 75 years less likely to want the treatment than those aged 55 to 59 years.

“This survey study found that the widespread and contentious publicity after FDA approval of aducanumab in June 2021 was not associated with a broad understanding of nor enthusiasm for this new therapeutic agent among middle-aged and older adults,” the authors write.