Citalopram Reduces Agitation in Some Patients with Alzheimer Disease

Agitation in patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) causes substantial patient and caregiver distress, but no drugs have been FDA approved for managing this condition. In this multicenter North American study, researchers randomized 186 older adults (mean age, 78) with probable Alzheimer disease and clinical agitation to citalopram (titrated to a target dose of 30 mg daily) or placebo. Participants lived at home and received several hours of caregiver support weekly; they received a standard set of educational, crisis management, and counseling services. Baseline depression, psychosis, or prolonged QTc interval were exclusion criteria.

At 9 weeks, citalopram patients had significantly lower scores on standardized measures of agitation than did…