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In patients with MCI and a history of depression, long-term treatment with SSRIs (for more than four years) was associated with a delayed progression to Alzheimer’s dementia by about three years, compared with those who used SSRIs only short term or who had no treatment.
Delaying the progression from MCI to Alzheimer’s dementia would not only reduce the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease, but also cut health insurance costs, wrote Claudia Bartels, Ph.D., of the University of Medical Center Gottingen, in Germany, and colleagues.
Bartels and colleagues analyzed data on 755 nondepressed adults aged 55 to 90 who were culled from the multicenter Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Participants were categorized at baseline as cognitively normal control subjects, patients with MCI, and patients with Alzheimer’s dementia and were comprehensively reassessed every six months or annually for progression from cognitively normal to MCI or Alzheimer’s dementia, or from MCI to Alzheimer’s dementia.
Of the 755 participants in the analysis, 532 were allocated at baseline to the “no history of depression–no antidepressants” group and 223 to the “history of depression” group. Of the latter group, 60 were untreated (prior depression–no antidepressants), 116 had received SSRIs (prior depression–SSRI), and 47 had received antidepressants other than SSRIs (prior depression–other antidepressants).
Statistical analysis revealed “a significantly decreased probability of conversion to Alzheimer’s dementia in MCI patients with a history of depression and long-term SSRI treatment [>1,610 days] compared with all other groups,” the authors reported. “The risk of conversion was increased in MCI patients with a history of depression and other antidepressant treatment compared with the no prior depression–no antidepressants group.” After three years of observation, however, the advantage of long-term SSRI treatment in previously depressed patients “dissolved,” researchers noted, and all groups had similar rates of progression from MCI to Alzheimer’s dementia.
The authors concluded, “Pending validation in an intervention trial, the data produced in this study may have important implications for clinical practice. … A prospective study to confirm SSRI effects on MCI progression is now warranted, as an SSRI-mediated delay may contribute to an overall lower prevalence of Alzheimer’s dementia, with a major impact on affected individuals, caregivers, public health, and health costs.”
(Image: iStock/sturti)