Celexa May Help Ease Alzheimer's-Linked Agitation
Study finds it might be safer alternative to standard antipsychotics
"If the agitation is not responding to non-medication treatments and your patient's agitation isn't improving, there are no great options," Lyketsos said in a Hopkins news release. "But here's another medication choice that might be safer than other medications and seems to be just as effective."
Manevitz, who was not involved in the study, said each patient's case may be different.
"The assessment of 'benefit versus risk' for the use of this or other medications needs to be made by families and physicians together on a 'case by case' basis," he said. "Medications may certainly be necessary in the short term for acute care in many patients, and to stabilize the caregiving environment."
Another expert said the Hopkins findings weren't surprising.
"The treatment of the effects of dementia, like depression and agitation, are fraught with their own side effects and therefore are of limited utility for many patients," said Dr. Theodore Strange, a geriatrician and associate chairman of the department of medicine at Staten Island University Hospital, in New York City.
"Citalopram, an antidepressant, has some calming effects on agitation but again needs its own monitoring for side effects," Strange said.
Manevitz also pointed that there are non-drug options that may help calm people with Alzheimer's disease. "Educating caregivers and families about behavioral interventions -- reality and orientation [therapy], reassurance, pet therapy -- is equally important," he said.
The study was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and published in the Feb. 19 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.