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. 2008;25(4):372-9.
doi: 10.1159/000121334. Epub 2008 Mar 20.

Is antidepressant treatment associated with reduced cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease?

Enrico Mossello  1 , Marta Boncinelli, Veronica Caleri, Maria Chiara Cavallini, Eliana Palermo, Mauro Di Bari, Sabrina Tilli, Eva Sarcone, David Simoni, Carlo Adriano Biagini, Giulio Masotti, Niccolò Marchionni
Affiliations

Is antidepressant treatment associated with reduced cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease?

Enrico Mossello et al. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord. 2008.

Abstract

Background: Although antidepressant drugs (ATD) are frequently prescribed to patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), their effect on cognitive status has been only rarely assessed.

Methods: The impact of depressive symptoms and ATD on cognitive status was retrospectively assessed in 72 older AD outpatients with mild-to-moderate cognitive impairment, treated with cholinesterase inhibitors, over a 9-month follow-up.

Results: Compared to subjects without baseline depressive symptoms, those with symptoms who were continuously treated with ATD had less cognitive decline; those never treated, or not continuously treated despite baseline symptoms, had an intermediate trend. Such a protective action of ATD was, at least in part, independent of their action on depressive symptoms.

Conclusion: These observations suggest that ATD may reduce cognitive decline in depressed older AD patients.

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