Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2022 Jan-Mar;36(1):83-84.
doi: 10.1097/WAD.0000000000000456.

An Agitated Patient With COVID-19 Infection and Early-onset Alzheimer Disease

Daniel Sykora  1 , Cynthia M Stonnington  2 , Neeta Jain  2
Affiliations
Case Reports

An Agitated Patient With COVID-19 Infection and Early-onset Alzheimer Disease

Daniel Sykora et al. Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord. 2022 Jan-Mar.

Abstract

Encephalopathy, delirium, and agitation are documented symptoms of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection, but research into the management of agitation in the setting of COVID-19 and pre-existing neuropsychiatric disease is ongoing. We present a 55-year-old male patient with early-onset Alzheimer disease and deteriorating mental and functional status who presented to our institution with agitation and persistent COVID-19 positivity on polymerase chain reaction testing. His agitation was improved through pharmacologic optimization including the avoidance of benzodiazepines and initiation of clonidine and prazosin, which temporally coincided with the resolution of his nearly 2-month long COVID-19 positivity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Computed tomography of the brain without intravenous contrast obtained on admission demonstrated moderate diffuse parenchymal atrophy with enlarged ventricles and sulci, which were slightly increased from 1 year prior, but with no acute intracranial abnormality.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ellul MA, Benjamin L, Singh B, et al. Neurological associations of COVID-19. Lancet Neurol. 2020;19:767–783. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cabrera MA, Karamsetty L, Simpson SA. Coronavirus and its implications for psychiatry: a rapid review of the early literature. Psychosomatics. 2020;61:607–615. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wang H, Li T, Barbarino P, et al. Dementia care during COVID-19. Lancet. 2020;395:1190–1191. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Porsteinsson AP, Drye LT, Pollock BG, et al. Effect of citalopram on agitation in Alzheimer disease: the CitAD randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2014;311:682–691. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bilbul M, Paparone P, Kim AM, et al. Psychopharmacology of COVID-19. Psychosomatics. 2020;61:411–427. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Substances