Antidepressants in Dementia: To Stop or Not?

Patients with dementia, even those who do not have major depression, are often treated with antidepressants and remain on them long-term, although efficacy is unclear. To address this issue, researchers used a unique design: They included 128 patients with dementia but not with clinical depression who were treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs; most likely prescribed for problems with mood and behavior), randomly assigned half to discontinuation, and examined depressive and neuropsychiatric symptoms up to 25 weeks later. For discontinuers, antidepressants were tapered off in the first week after assessment. The mean age was 86, and most were women (discontinuation group, 78%; continuation group, 72%).

After 25 weeks, th…