Conditions: Alzheimer Disease Psychomotor Agitation
Keywords: double-blind treatment prazosin
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 24
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The purpose of this study is to see if a medication called prazosin is useful in the treatment of agitation and aggression in persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other types of dementia in late life.

Detailed description:
Although the occurrence of disruptive agitation behaviors likely are influenced by environmental/ interpersonal factors, it is also likely that behaviorally relevant neurobiologic abnormalities lower the threshold for the expression of such behavior in Alzheimer's disease. Because of the success prazosin has had in the treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, it is thought that it could be used similarly with disruptive agitation. Originally designed to evaluate Alzheimer's disease patients in nursing homes, the study now includes outpatients. It is a 9-week placebo-controlled trial.

Arms:
arm 1: None arm 2: None

Interventions: intervention 1: prazosin intervention 2: placebo (inert substance)
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Participants taking prazosin. Prazosin was administered as 1 or 2 mg capsules. Doses were initiated at 1 mg at bedtime. Titration based on tolerability was conducted up to a dose of 2 mg in the morning plus 4mg at bedtime.

Duration was 8 weeks. intervention 2: Placebo is an inert substance used as a standard comparator in clinical pharmacologic trials. Duration is 8 weeks.

Protocol document: