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Antidepressants do not help treat depression in people living with dementia

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Antidepressants do not help treat depression in people living with dementia

Lakshini Mendis

Antidepressants do not reduce symptoms of depression in people with dementia compared with placebo according to a recently published Cochrane review. Participants were aged 75 years on average, with mild or moderate dementia. The quality of the included trials was mixed, with not enough information reported to fully assess the risk of bias, though the main result is reliable.

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Wednesday 16th January 2019

This review supports the NICE guideline, which recommends that antidepressants are not routinely offered to people with dementia and depression, but that psychological treatments are considered instead.

Read more at: https://discover.dc.nihr.ac.uk/content/signal-000705/antidepressants-do-not-help-treat-depression-in-dementia