Efficacy of memantine for agitation in Alzheimer's dementia: a randomised double-blind placebo controlled trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Agitation in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is common and associated with poor patient life-quality and carer distress. The best evidence-based pharmacological treatments are antipsychotics which have limited benefits with increased morbidity and mortality. There are no memantine trials in clinically significant agitation but post-hoc analyses in other populations found reduced agitation. We tested the primary hypothesis, memantine is superior to placebo for clinically significant agitation, in patients with moderate-to-severe AD.

Methods and findings

We recruited 153 participants with AD and clinically significant agitation from care-homes or hospitals for a double-blind randomised-controlled trial and 149 people started the trial of memantine versus placebo. The prima

SUBMITTER: Fox C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3342281 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature