International psychogeriatrics
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Randomized Controlled Trial
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of memantine in a behaviorally enriched sample of patients with moderate-to-severe Alzheimer's disease.
Agitation and aggression in Alzheimer's disease (AD) are amongst the most serious of neuropsychiatric symptoms, and contribute to poor outcomes and worse quality of life. Previous studies have suggested a benefit for memantine on agitation and aggression, but none have examined its efficacy in community-dwelling patients with significant agitation and aggression at baseline, utilizing these behaviors as a primary outcome measure. ⋯ The study failed to show the superiority of memantine in this sample of patients with moderate-to-severe AD with significant baseline agitation and aggression. Methodological limitations could have contributed to these results.