A 2-month period of DC assistance is effective in reducing behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia patients and in alleviating caregivers' burden.

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Background: Although antidepressant drugs (ATD) are frequently prescribed to patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), their effect on cognitive status has been only rarely assessed. Methods: The impact of depressive symptoms and ATD on cognitive status was retrospectively assessed in 72 older AD outpatients with mild-to-moderate cognitive impairment, treated with cholinesterase inhibitors, over a 9-month follow-up. Results: Compared to subjects without baseline depressive symptoms, those with symptoms who were continuously treated with ATD had less cognitive decline; those never treated, or not continuously treated despite baseline symptoms, had an intermediate trend. Such a protective action of ATD was, at least in part, independent of their action on depressive symptoms. Conclusion: These observations suggest that ATD may reduce cognitive decline in depressed older AD patients.

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