Drug Safety in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson's Diseases

Dear Colleagues,

Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases are prevalent, particularly in the elderly, who are vulnerable to impaired cognitive functions and chronic diseases. These conditions may result in poor adherence to treatments and polypharmacy, thereby posing the risk of adverse reactions and drug–drug interactions that could otherwise be avoided. Among medications for Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, despite their safety assessed in pre-clinical research and clinical trials, some might involve potential risk of drug–drug interactions or adverse reactions that are either currently unexplained or cannot be observed without a long-term follow-up in a large population in a real-world setting. To ensure the safety of patients with Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, it is therefore of vital importance to identify potential interactions or adverse drug reactions of anti-Alzheimer’s or anti-Parkinson’s agents, determine their mechanisms, and devise strategies either for improving patients’ adherence or mitigating the risks of these medications.

This Special Issue aims to present research on drug safety, pharmacovigilance, and pharmacoepidemiology concerning treatments for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. We are especially interested in identifying unknown, unclear, or unexplained adverse reactions, drug–drug and drug–food interactions of these medications; predicting, monitoring, or improving medication adherence in Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s patients; AI algorithms, models, or wearable devices adopted for the purposes mentioned above. Both original research and review articles are welcome. Authors are encouraged to submit clinical research papers, whether pre- or post-marketing, including observational studies, interventional studies, reviews, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses.

The safety of anti-Alzheimer’s and anti-Parkinson’s agents relies on an adequate understanding of these medications and high medication adherence in patients. We hope to inspire researchers and health professionals with an interest in this topic to contribute their findings and insights to improve drug safety in patients, especially the elderly, with Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease. 

Dr. Hsuan-Chia Yang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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• Alzheimer’s disease
• Parkinson’s disease
• drug safety
• pharmacovigilance
• pharmacoepidemiology
• adverse drug reactions
• adherence
• artificial intelligence