Principal components analysis of agitation outcomes in Alzheimer's disease.
We developed a composite measure of agitation as a secondary outcome of change over time in the Citalopram for Agitation in Alzheimer's disease study (CitAD). CitAD demonstrated a positive effect of citalopram on agitation on the Neurobehavioral Rating Scale agitation subscale (NBRS-A). CitAD included additional agitation measures such as the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory.



We performed principal components analyses on change in individual item of these scales for the same, original CitAD subjects.



The first principal component accounted for 12.6% of the observed variance and was composed of items that appear to reflect agitation. The effect size for citalopram calculated using this component was 0.53 (95% CI 0.22-0.83) versus 0.32 for the NBRS-A (95% CI 0.01-0.62).



Results suggest that a composite measure of change in agitation might be more sensitive than change in a single primary agitation measure.
Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, 94304, United States; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States; Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States. Electronic address: yesavage@stanford.edu.
Jerome A
JA
Yesavage
Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, 94304, United States; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States.
Joy L
JL
Taylor
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States.
Leah
L
Friedman
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21205, United States.
Paul B
PB
Rosenberg
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States.
Laura C
LC
Lazzeroni
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21205, United States.
Jeannie-Marie S
JS
Leoutsakos
Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, 94304, United States.
Lisa M
LM
Kinoshita
Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, 94304, United States.
Mark J
MJ
Perlow
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21205, United States.
Cynthia A
CA
Munro
Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, 10032, United States; College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, NY, 10032, United States.
D P
DP
Devanand
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, 21205, United States.
Lea T
LT
Drye
Clinical Biotechnology Research Institute, Roper St. Francis Healthcare, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States; Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, Charleston, SC, 29401, United States.
Jacobo E
JE
Mintzer
Campbell Institute, CAMH, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2S1, Canada.
Bruce G
BG
Pollock
University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY, 14642, United States.
Anton P
AP
Porsteinsson
University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, 90089, United States.
Lon S
LS
Schneider
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, 21205, United States.
David M
DM
Shade
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States; Department of Veterans Affairs, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, United States.
Daniel
D
Weintraub
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21205, United States.
Constantine G
CG
Lyketsos
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, 94305, United States.
Art
A
Noda
D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology*; D015283:Citalopram / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011595:Psychomotor Agitation / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D011619:Psychotropic Drugs; D015283:Citalopram
Agitation; Alzheimer's disease; Principal component analysis