|
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
|
||
| SEARCH | SUBSCRIBE | ||
|
 |
Zoloft
Improves Depression in Alzheimer's Patients The
antidepressant Zoloft is helpful for treating the depression that often
accompanies Alzheimer's disease, a new study shows. Unfortunately,
though, treating depression doesn't help with the declining mental powers
that are a key feature of Alzheimer's disease. Depression is a
common problem among Alzheimer's patients that makes their lives even
tougher, study author Dr. Constantine G. Lyketsos, from the Johns Hopkins
Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and colleagues note. Still, based on past
studies, it is unclear if these patients benefit from the drugs used to
treat depressed patients without Alzheimer's. AS described in an
article in the Archives of General Psychiatry, the team studied 44
patients with Alzheimer's disease and a serious type of mood disorder
called major depression. The patients were treated with either Zoloft (sertraline)
or an inactive placebo pill for 12 weeks. Eighty-four
percent of patients in the Zoloft group experienced some improvement in
their depression, compared with only 35 percent in the placebo group, the
investigators note. Furthermore, Zoloft-treated patients had higher scores
on two commonly used tests that measure depression. When Zoloft lifted
a patient's mood, they became more active and had fewer behavioral
problems. However, even a strong response to the drug did not help
patients think more clearly. Doctors treating
Alzheimer's patients may have been reluctant to look for depression
because they didn't feel they had any treatments that worked, the
researchers note. The new findings, which show Zoloft can work, may help
change that attitude, they add. Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging
|
