Affiliations: [a] Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, 1st Department of Psychiatry, Eginition Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece | [b] Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, John’s Hopkins University, School of Medicine, USA
Correspondence:
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Correspondence to: Antonios Politis, MD, PhD, Athens University Medical School, 1st Department of Psychiatry, Eginition Hospital, 74 Vas. Sofias Avenue, 115 28 Athens, Greece. Tel./Fax: +302107289324; apolitis@med.uoa.gr
Abstract: Depression in Alzheimer’s disease (dAD) is one of the most common behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, with devastating consequences not only for the affected individuals, but for caregivers as well. So far, pharmacological treatment of dAD has been based on the “monoamine hypothesis”. However, the reported moderate effects of approved antidepressants, as well as an increasing body of research evidence, suggest a more complex pathophysiologic mechanism. In the present paper, a systematic review of different treatments for dAD is presented that can inform the study of alternative neuropathological and neurobiological aspects of the disease aimed at the development of more effective treatment targets.
