Patients

The patients were recruited through advertisements placed in newspapers distributed in Toronto and Orangeville, Ontario, Canada, enlisting people with a diagnosis of dementia or AD. In this article, they are labeled as Patients 1–5, in order of degree of severity on the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) as tested at baseline (Table 1). All patients had been diagnosed with dementia or AD by their physicians. Their ages were 72–90 years [mean 77.6; standard deviation (SD) 7.23]; the time between their diagnoses and participation in the study ranged from 6 months to 8 years (mean 3.2 years; SD 2.88).

Demographics and Baseline Characteristics of Each Patient

ADAS-cog, Alzheimer's disease assessment scale-cognitive subscale; MMSE, Mini-Mental State Exam; SD, standard deviation.

Before enrollment into the study, informed consent was obtained from the participants and signed in the presence of accompanying caregivers. The protocol and Informed Consent Forms (ICF) were reviewed by Health Canada. The subjects were not paid for participation in the study. However, the ICF included a statement that patients who completed the study would be given their own PBM devices to keep for home use.