TY - JOUR

T1 - Antidepressant medication in a German cohort of patients with Alzheimer's disease

AU - Hessmann, Philipp

AU - Dodel, Richard

AU - Baum, Erika

AU - Müller, Matthias J.

AU - Paschke, Greta

AU - Kis, Bernhard

AU - Zeidler, Jan

AU - Klora, Mike

AU - Reese, Jens Peter

AU - Balzer-Geldsetzer, Monika

N1 - Funding information: This study was supported by an unre stricted grant from the Ernst-and-Margot-Faber-Stiftung, Marburg, Germany.

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - Objective: The use of antidepressant drugs in dementia patients is associated with the risk of adverse events, and the evidence for relevant effects is scarce. We aimed to determine the associations between the prescription of antidepressants and patients' sociodemographic (e.g., age, gender, living situation) and clinical characteristics (e.g., disease severity, neuropsychiatric symptoms). Materials and methods: We included 395 institutionalized and communitydwelling patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) across all severity stages of dementia in a cross-sectional study design. The patients' clinical characteristics comprised of cognitive status, daily activities, depressive symptoms, further neuropsychiatric symptoms, and health-related quality of life (HrQoL). We conducted multiple logistic regression analyses for the association between the use of antidepressant drugs and the covariates. Results: Approximately 31% of the participants were treated with antidepressant drugs, with a higher chance of being medicated for institutionalized patients (χ2-test: p = 0.010). In the bivariate analyses, the use of antidepressants was significantly associated with higher levels of care, lower cognitive and daily life capacity, higher extent of neuropsychiatric symptoms, and a lower proxyreported HrQoL. Finally, multiple logistic regression models showed a significantly higher use of antidepressants in patients treated by psychiatrists and neurologists (OR 2.852, 95% CI: 1.223 - 6.652). Conclusion: The use of antidepressant drugs in the study population was high, and the suitability of the treatment with antidepressants remains unclear. Participants with diminished cognitive and functional capacity, higher extent of neuropsychiatric symptoms, and those treated by neuropsychiatric specialists were more likely to be treated with antidepressants. The pharmaceutical treatment of patients with these clinical characteristics should be particularly considered in the daily care for dementia patients. Further longitudinal studies should evaluate the appropriateness of indications for antidepressants and the causative direction of correlations with the patients' clinical characteristics.

AB - Objective: The use of antidepressant drugs in dementia patients is associated with the risk of adverse events, and the evidence for relevant effects is scarce. We aimed to determine the associations between the prescription of antidepressants and patients' sociodemographic (e.g., age, gender, living situation) and clinical characteristics (e.g., disease severity, neuropsychiatric symptoms). Materials and methods: We included 395 institutionalized and communitydwelling patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) across all severity stages of dementia in a cross-sectional study design. The patients' clinical characteristics comprised of cognitive status, daily activities, depressive symptoms, further neuropsychiatric symptoms, and health-related quality of life (HrQoL). We conducted multiple logistic regression analyses for the association between the use of antidepressant drugs and the covariates. Results: Approximately 31% of the participants were treated with antidepressant drugs, with a higher chance of being medicated for institutionalized patients (χ2-test: p = 0.010). In the bivariate analyses, the use of antidepressants was significantly associated with higher levels of care, lower cognitive and daily life capacity, higher extent of neuropsychiatric symptoms, and a lower proxyreported HrQoL. Finally, multiple logistic regression models showed a significantly higher use of antidepressants in patients treated by psychiatrists and neurologists (OR 2.852, 95% CI: 1.223 - 6.652). Conclusion: The use of antidepressant drugs in the study population was high, and the suitability of the treatment with antidepressants remains unclear. Participants with diminished cognitive and functional capacity, higher extent of neuropsychiatric symptoms, and those treated by neuropsychiatric specialists were more likely to be treated with antidepressants. The pharmaceutical treatment of patients with these clinical characteristics should be particularly considered in the daily care for dementia patients. Further longitudinal studies should evaluate the appropriateness of indications for antidepressants and the causative direction of correlations with the patients' clinical characteristics.

KW - Alzheimer's disease

KW - Antidepressant drugs

KW - Neuropsychiatric symptoms

KW - Use

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85042417666&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.5414/CP203121

DO - 10.5414/CP203121

M3 - Article

C2 - 29350177

AN - SCOPUS:85042417666

VL - 56

SP - 101

EP - 112

JO - International Journal of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics

JF - International Journal of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics

SN - 0946-1965

IS - 3

ER -