TY - JOUR
T1 - A controlled clinical trial of sertraline in the treatment of depression in nursing home patients with late-stage Alzheimer's disease
AU - Magai, Carol
AU - Kennedy, Gary
AU - Cohen, Carl I.
AU - Gomberg, David
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by a grant from the New York State Department of Health Dementia Grants Program and by an unrestricted grant from Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. The work on this project was also supported by a grant from the Minority Biomedical Research Support Program and the National Institute on Aging (1 SO6 GM54650-01).
PY - 2000
Y1 - 2000
N2 - A sample of 31 female nursing home patients with late-stage Alzheimer's disease participated in a double-blind clinical trial of the antidepressant medication sertraline. Measures of depression included various objective scales and two measures of facial expressions of emotion coded during a semistructured interview using a facial affect coding system. Repeated- measures ANOVAs at baseline and at the 8-week endpoint indicated that on all measures, both the treatment and placebo groups improved over time, with three of six measures showing a significant time effect. The 'knit-brow' facial measure approached significance for a Treatment x Time effect. Thus, sertraline had no significant benefits over placebo. However, if as we hypothesize, the knit-brow response is more sensitive to signs of depression in advanced dementia, our study justifies the further investigation of the use of sertraline in this population.
AB - A sample of 31 female nursing home patients with late-stage Alzheimer's disease participated in a double-blind clinical trial of the antidepressant medication sertraline. Measures of depression included various objective scales and two measures of facial expressions of emotion coded during a semistructured interview using a facial affect coding system. Repeated- measures ANOVAs at baseline and at the 8-week endpoint indicated that on all measures, both the treatment and placebo groups improved over time, with three of six measures showing a significant time effect. The 'knit-brow' facial measure approached significance for a Treatment x Time effect. Thus, sertraline had no significant benefits over placebo. However, if as we hypothesize, the knit-brow response is more sensitive to signs of depression in advanced dementia, our study justifies the further investigation of the use of sertraline in this population.
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U2 - 10.1097/00019442-200002000-00009
DO - 10.1097/00019442-200002000-00009
M3 - Article
C2 - 10648297
AN - SCOPUS:0033988108
SN - 1064-7481
VL - 8
SP - 66
EP - 74
JO - American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
JF - American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
IS - 1
ER -
