Risperidone in the treatment of patients with Alzheimer's disease with negative symptoms.
BACKGROUND
Negative symptoms such as diminished initiative, drive, motivation, and emotional reactivity have been described in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The purpose of this study was to retrospectively analyze the efficacy and tolerability of risperidone for the treatment of clinically significant positive and negative symptoms in AD.


METHODS
We reviewed the charts of 50 community-residing AD patients who had been treated in a specialized university-based dementia management clinic. Clinical data comparing baseline and 12 weeks of treatment were obtained by reviewing a series of rating scales that were recorded as part of a comprehensive behavioral assessment.


RESULTS
Reviewed subjects had a mean age of 79.7 6 years and a mean of 12 +/- 3.6 years of school. Seventy percent of the subjects were female and the majority was White. The mean dose of risperidone prescribed was 1.3 +/- 0.6 mg per day (range from 0.5 mg to 3.0 mg). After 12 weeks of treatment, the severity of positive and negative symptoms was significantly reduced. Importantly, improvement in negative symptoms with the use of risperidone appeared to be independent of a positive treatment effect on positive symptoms. Risperidone had insignificant effects on both cognitive status and the emergence of extrapyramidal symptoms.


CONCLUSIONS
This retrospective study demonstrates that risperidone appears to be efficacious in the treatment of clinically significant positive and negative symptoms in patients with AD.
Department of Psychiatry, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School-University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Piscataway 08855, USA. negronae@cmhc.umdnj.edu
A E
AE
Negrón
W E
WE
Reichman
D000339:Affect / Q000187:drug effects; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology*; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients; D011595:Psychomotor Agitation / Q000188:drug therapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018967:Risperidone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D018967:Risperidone