Trial reportThe American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry2020
A Randomized Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Trial of Combined Escitalopram and Memantine for Older Adults With Major Depression and Subjective Memory Complaints.
Trial report in The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT01902004 (Treatment of Geriatric Depression With Mild Cognitive Impairment), which is not on this map. Cited by 32 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.
Treatment of Geriatric Depression With Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Double-blind Placebo-Controlled Trial of Namenda (Memantine) Augmentation of Lexapro (Escitalopram) in Depressed Patients at Least 60 Years of Age
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 60 citations in OpenAlex.
- The association of ultra-processed food intake on age-related muscle conditions: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis with meta-regression.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Antidepressants and Psychotherapy Commonly Used in the Treatment of Late Life Depression for Their Effects on Cognition.The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis on the efficacy outcomes of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in depression in Alzheimer's disease.BMC neurology · 2023Pooled it
- Default mode network connectivity and treatment response in geriatric depression.Brain and behavior · 2022Trial
- Transcriptomic signatures of treatment response to the combination of escitalopram and memantine or placebo in late-life depression.Molecular psychiatry · 2021Trial
- [International psychogeriatrics · 2021Trial
- Combined treatment with escitalopram and memantine increases gray matter volume and cortical thickness compared to escitalopram and placebo in a pilot study of geriatric depression.Journal of affective disorders · 2020Trial
- Memantine: updates from the past decade and implications for future novel therapeutic applications.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2026Review
- Pharmacotherapy of major depressive disorder in older adults: from an evidence-informed stepwise algorithm to precision medicine.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Antidepressant use and cognitive decline in patients with dementia: a national cohort study.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- Advances in the assessment and study of suicide in late-life depression.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Review
- Caveolae with GLP-1 and NMDA Receptors as Crossfire Points for the Innovative Treatment of Cognitive Dysfunction Associated with Neurodegenerative Diseases.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Potential prognostic value of CSF-targeted proteomics across the Alzheimer's disease continuum.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- Antidepressant and anxiolytic potential ofFrontiers in pharmacology · 2024Article
- Caveolae with serotonin and NMDA receptors as promising targets for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.International journal of physiology, pathophysiology and pharmacology · 2024Review
- Death-associated protein kinase 1 is associated with cognitive dysfunction in major depressive disorder.Neural regeneration research · 2023Article
- Depression in Major Neurodegenerative Diseases and Strokes: A Critical Review of Similarities and Differences among Neurological Disorders.Brain sciences · 2023Review
- Late-life depression: Epidemiology, phenotype, pathogenesis and treatment before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Review
- Towards an understanding of the pathological basis of senile depression and incident dementia: Implications for treatment.Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2022Review
- Pharmacological targeting of cognitive impairment in depression: recent developments and challenges in human clinical research.Translational psychiatry · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveGeriatric depression is difficult to treat and frequently accompanied by cognitive complaints that increase risk for dementia. New treatment strategies targeting both depression and cognition are urgently needed.
methodsWe conducted a 6-month double-blind placebo-controlled trial to assess the efficacy and tolerability of escitalopram + memantine (ESC/MEM) compared to escitalopram + placebo (ESC/PBO) for improving mood and cognitive functioning in depressed older adults with subjective memory complaints (NCT01902004). Primary outcome was change in depression as assessed by the HAM-D post-treatment (at 6 months). Remission was defined as HAM-D ≤6; naturalistic follow-up continued until 12 months.
resultsOf the 95 randomized participants, 62 completed the 6-month assessment. Dropout and tolerability did not differ between groups. Mean daily escitalopram dose was 11.1 mg (SD = 3.7; range: 5-20 mg). Mean daily memantine dose was 19.3 mg (SD = 2.6; range 10-20 mg). Remission rate within ESC/MEM was 45.8% and 47.9%, compared to 38.3% and 31.9% in ESC/PBO, at 3 and 6 months, respectively (χ
conclusionsThe combination of memantine with escitalopram was well tolerated and as effective as escitalopram and placebo in improving depression using HAM-D. Combination memantine and escitalopram was significantly more effective than escitalopram and placebo in improving cognitive outcomes at 12 months. Future reports will address the role of biomarkers of aging in treatment response.
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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.