Antidepressants: Another failed treatment option for dementia patients

Sadly, another study presented at Monday s Alzheimer s Association International Conference has found that antidepressants are ineffective for Alzheimer s patients. Led by Dr. Sube Banerjee of King s College London, the researchers randomized more than 300 depressed patients with dementia to receive either a placebo, mirtazapine (Remeron), or sertraline (Zoloft) and found that after 39 weeks of treatment, the antidepressant group exhibited the same decrease in symptoms as the placebo group. Furthermore, 40 percent of those who received antidepressant therapy experienced adverse health effects, compared to just 26 percent in the placebo group.

Even after accounting for the severity of the dementia and depression, the type of depression, the antidepressant dose, and the patient dropout rate, treatment with antidepressants still did not appear to affect patients symptoms any more than the placebo. In fact, said Dr. Banerjee, most cases of depression in dementia patients will resolve with usual care in the absence of antidepressant drug therapy.

Dr. Banerjee asserts that this study is one of many that show there is no scientific support for the use of antidepressants as a first-line treatment for depression in dementia patients. He also recommends that clinicians first try supportive and problem-solving interventions before resorting to drug therapy. ACSH s Dr. Josh Bloom laments that this class of drugs appears to be just one more thing that doesn t work to relieve symptoms for dementia or Alzheimer s patients.