Do Benzodiazepines Cause Dementia? Latest Study Casts Doubt

Topics: Benzodiazepines | Dementia

Mediterranean Diet and Age-Related Cognitive Decline: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Topics: Dementia | Research Updates

Namzaric and Other Cognitive Enhancers for Dementia

Topics: Dementia

There’s a new medication on the market for the treatment of dementia—the first to come along in several years. In December of 2014, Actavis and Adamas Pharmaceuticals announced the approval of Namzaric, which is a combination of Namenda XR and Aricept, for moderate to severe dementia. While no one would claim that this combination of two existi

Benzodiazepine Use and Alzheimer’s Risk

Topics: Benzodiazepines | Dementia

If you’re like most psychiatrists, you get your fair share of older folks who come into the office complaining of difficulties with sleep or with significant symptoms of anxiety. In many of these cases, after an adequate workup, it’s not unusual to use at least a short course of benzodiazepines such as Restoril or Ativan. We’ve known for some t

Assessing and Working with Patients with Cognitive Impairment and Dementia

Topics: Dementia

Anticholinergics and Dementia

Topics: Dementia | Research Updates

Personality May Influence the Risk for Alzheimer’s

Topics: Dementia | Research Updates

Healthy Lifestyle Can Lower Dementia Risk

Topics: Dementia | News of Note

Current Pharmacological Treatment of Dementia

Topics: Dementia

Patients with dementia and their families may express frustration about the limited number of options for improving cognitive symptoms, but they are not without choices. Here we will review a number of pharmacological treatment options for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other major types of dementia. Cholinesterase Inhibitors The use of cholineste

Table - Types of Dementia

Topics: Dementia

Documents: Table - Types of Dementia.pdf

Psychiatric Illness in the Elderly

Topics: Dementia

TCPR: Apart from the obvious problems like memory disorders and dementia, what should we know about psychiatric issues in the elderly? Dr. Blazer: One thing to begin with is to recognize that in general surveys of happiness, contentment, and well-being, older persons for the most part score higher than people in midlife and certainly in earlier yo

Study Suggests Higher Glucose Level May Increase Risk of Dementia

Topics: Dementia | News of Note

Off-Label Use of Antipsychotics Effective for Some Indications

Topics: Antipsychotics | Dementia | OCD | PTSD | Substance Abuse

SNRIs Likely No Better than SSRIs for Depression

Topics: Antidepressants | Dementia

Medications for Treating Alzheimer’s Dementia

Topics: Dementia

While drug companies have been working hard to come up with new options for the treatment of dementia, there have been no new FDA approvals since memantine (Namenda) hit the scene in 2003. The currently available meds include four cholinesterase inhibitors (donepezil, galantamine, rivastigmine and tacrine) and one NMDA receptor antagonist (memantine). F

The MoCA: A Better MMSE?

Topics: Dementia | Diagnostic Testing

Most psychiatrists rely on the Folstein Mini Mental State Exam for a rapid, office-based neuropsychological assessment. It is what we were trained on, and we have given it to so many patients that we can pretty much reel off the items from memory. But the MMSE has some serious limitations. While it is quite sensitive at picking up moderate to severe

Medications for Dementia: An Update

Topics: Dementia

It has now been a full ten years since the first of the second-generation cholinesterase inhibitors (CIs), Aricept (donepezil) was approved for Alzheimer’s dementia. (The original CI, tacrine, is rarely prescribed these days because of the risk of bradycardia and hepatotoxicity). Soon after Aricept’s approval, other companies got busy producing thei

Normal Forgetfulness vs. Pre-Dementia: How to Distinguish Them

Topics: Dementia

A 70-year old man comes into your office and asks: “Doctor, I keep misplacing my keys-am I getting Alzheimer’s?” You detect the note of anxiety in his voice, and you want to give an answer, and soon. Here is a reasonable approach, based on the latest research data. First, rule out dementia. If you haven’t reviewed them lately, the DSM-4

Agitation and Depression in Older Patients

Topics: Antipsychotics | Dementia | Depressive Disorder