ReviewDrugs & aging2017
Management of Depression in Patients with Dementia: Is Pharmacological Treatment Justified?
Review in Drugs & aging, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Tasks and Activities of an Effective Collaborative Dementia Care Management Program in German Primary Care.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Relationship Between Depression and Neurodegeneration: Risk Factor, Prodrome, Consequence, or Something Else? A Scoping Review.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Imbalance of multiple neurotransmitter pathways leading to depression-like behavior and cognitive dysfunction in the triple transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer disease.Metabolic brain disease · 2023Article
- Serum alkaline phosphatase was independently associated with depression in patients with cerebrovascular disease.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Article
- Concordance of self- and informant-rated depressive symptoms in nursing home residents with Dementia: cross-sectional findings.BMC psychiatry · 2022Article
- Monitoring Behaviors of Patients With Late-Stage Dementia Using Passive Environmental Sensing Approaches: A Case Series.The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry · 2022Article
- Molecular Basis of Late-Life Depression.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Low continuation of antipsychotic therapy in Parkinson disease - intolerance, ineffectiveness, or inertia?BMC neurology · 2021Article
- Memantine in neurological disorders - schizophrenia and depression.Journal of molecular medicine (Berlin, Germany) · 2021Review
- Pattern of treatment of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia and pain: evidence on pharmacoutilization from a large real-world sample and from a centre for cognitive disturbances and dementia.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2021Observational
- Review
- Repurposing Cholinesterase Inhibitors as Antidepressants? Dose and Stress-Sensitivity May Be Critical to Opening Possibilities.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2020Review
- Pharmacotherapy of Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia: State of the Art and Future Progress.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2020Review
- Behavioural activation in nursing homes to treat depression (BAN-Dep): study protocol for a pragmatic randomised controlled trial.BMJ open · 2019Article
- Drug Use before and after Initiating Treatment with Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitors.Dementia and geriatric cognitive disorders extraArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Depression in the context of dementia is common and contributes to poorer outcomes in individuals and those who care for them. Non-pharmacological treatments are the preferred initial approach to managing these symptoms but data in support of these are scarce. There are a number of pharmacological treatment options available to clinicians but efficacy is uncertain and concern about potential side effects in an aging and vulnerable population needs to be taken into consideration. This review aims to provide a concise overview of pharmacological treatments for depression in dementia. Antidepressants are the mainstay of pharmacological treatment for clinically significant depression in the general population but evidence to support their use in dementia is mixed. Trials of antidepressants should generally be reserved for individuals with depression where the symptoms are distressing and surpass the threshold for major depression. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and memantine are effective in the symptomatic treatment of Alzheimer's disease but current evidence does not support their use to treat depressive symptoms in dementia. Similarly, antipsychotics and mood stabilizers have no proven efficacy for depression and the risk of adverse effects seems to outweigh any potential benefit. Pain can be a frequent problem in dementia and may have significant effects on behavior and mood. Preliminary evidence supports a role of adequate analgesia in improving mood in people with dementia.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.