Trial reportPloS one2017
Bupropion for the treatment of apathy in Huntington's disease: A multicenter, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, prospective crossover trial.
Trial report in PloS one, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
29 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 54 citations in OpenAlex.
- Use of antidepressants in early Huntington's Disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Neurodegenerative disease management · 2026Pooled it
- Pharmacological Treatment of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Huntington's Disease: A Systematic Review.Movement disorders clinical practice · 2025Pooled it
- Pharmacologic Approaches for the Management of Apathy in Neurodegenerative Disorders.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2019Pooled it
- Phase II trial of intravenous human dental pulp stem cell therapy for Huntington's disease: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.Stem cell research & therapy · 2025Trial
- Bupropion for the Treatment of Apathy in Alzheimer Disease: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2020Trial
- Update on the Symptomatic Treatment of Huntington's Disease: From Pathophysiology to Clinical Practice.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Evidence-Based Review on Symptomatic Management of Huntington's Disease.Journal of movement disorders · 2024Article
- [Psychiatric symptoms of Huntington's disease].Der Nervenarzt · 2024Review
- Understanding the implications of a complete case analysis for regression models with a right-censored covariate.The American statistician · 2024Article
- Symptomatic treatment options for Huntington's disease (guidelines of the German Neurological Society).Neurological research and practice · 2023Article
- From Pathogenesis to Therapeutics: A Review of 150 Years of Huntington's Disease Research.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- A Systematic Review of Pharmacological Interventions for Apathy in Aging Neurocognitive Disorders.Brain sciences · 2023Review
- Distinguishing apathy from depression: A review differentiating the behavioral, neuroanatomic, and treatment-related aspects of apathy from depression in neurocognitive disorders.International journal of geriatric psychiatry · 2023Review
- Apathy in Parkinson's Disease: Defining the Park Apathy Subtype.Brain sciences · 2022Review
- Disordered Decision Making: A Cognitive Framework for Apathy and Impulsivity in Huntington's Disease.Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society · 2022Review
- Imbalanced basal ganglia connectivity is associated with motor deficits and apathy in Huntington's disease.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2022Article
- Cannabinoids in the management of behavioral, psychological, and motor symptoms of neurocognitive disorders: a mixed studies systematic review.Journal of cannabis research · 2022Review
- Pharmacological Management of Apathy in Dementia.CNS drugs · 2022Review
- Use of Contrave, Naltrexone with Bupropion, Bupropion, or Naltrexone and Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events: A Systematic Literature Review.Diabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity : targets and therapy · 2022Review
- Different depression: motivational anhedonia governs antidepressant efficacy in Huntington's disease.Brain communications · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate the efficacy and safety of bupropion in the treatment of apathy in Huntington's disease (HD).
methodsIn this phase 2b multicentre, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial, individuals with HD and clinical signs of apathy according to the Structured Clinical Interview for Apathy-Dementia (SCIA-D), but not depression (n = 40) were randomized to receive either bupropion 150/300mg or placebo daily for 10 weeks. The primary outcome parameter was a significant change of the Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES) score after ten weeks of treatment as judged by an informant (AES-I) living in close proximity with the study participant. The secondary outcome parameters included changes of 1. AES scores determined by the patient (AES-S) or the clinical investigator (AES-C), 2. psychiatric symptoms (NPI, HADS-SIS, UHDRS-Behavior), 3. cognitive performance (SDMT, Stroop, VFT, MMSE), 4. motor symptoms (UHDRS-Motor), 5. activities of daily function (TFC, UHDRS-Function), and 6. caregiver distress (NPI-D). In addition, we investigated the effect of bupropion on brain structure as well as brain responses and functional connectivity during reward processing in a gambling task using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
resultsAt baseline, there were no significant treatment group differences in the clinical primary and secondary outcome parameters. At endpoint, there was no statistically significant difference between treatment groups for all clinical primary and secondary outcome variables. Study participation, irrespective of the intervention, lessened symptoms of apathy according to the informant and the clinical investigator.
conclusionBupropion does not alleviate apathy in HD. However, study participation/placebo effects were observed, which document the need for carefully controlled trials when investigating therapeutic interventions for the neuropsychiatric symptoms of HD.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov 01914965.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.