The major weakness in this information is in its source. Recommendations were based on a survey of experts rather than scientifically collected data. In recent years, scientifically collected data from large multicenter trials began to emerge for the treatment of BPSD, especially psychosis. Hie first multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of BPSD psychosis was recently published.36 The study evaluated the effects of risperidone versus placebo in 612 demented patients. The study revealed risperidone to be significantly better than placebo in improving symptoms of psychosis and aggressive

behavior when used in 1-mg and 2-mg doses.36 A similar randomized trial37 of risperidone, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical placebo, and haloperidol for BPSD demonstrated conventional neuroleptics to be modestly efficacious for treating aggression in demented patients, while risperidone Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical was associated with a. greater reduction in both the severity and frequency of aggression than was either placebo or haloperidol. ‘Ihe antipsychotic

drug olanzapine was also recently utilized in a randomized, double-blind, placebocontrolled study Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical with AD. This study included 206 patients. This study found olanzapine 5 mg and 10 mg to be superior to placebo in the treatment of both psychosis and aggression in BPSD patients.38 Until recently, cholinest.era.se inhibitors were untested in treating BPSD Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical symptoms such as agitation, delusions, and hallucinations. In a previous study, it, was observed that, patients given tacrine at. 120 mg a day or higher were less likely to have entered a. nursing home than patients on lower doses.39 It was hypothesized that this decline was in part due to a decrease in the onset, of noncognitive symptoms in those patients. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Furthermore, in a study evaluating

the effectiveness of physostigmine slow release (SR),Thal et al40 reported a decrease in the onset, of psychosis and aggression as well as other psychiatric pathology in the physostigmine SR-treated groups. In addition, recent data on the cholinesterase inhibitor donepezil indicate that this compound else can also improve behavioral symptoms commonly associated with psychosis in AD, such as hallucination, apathy, and aberrant motor behavior.41 Furthermore, selleck chemicals another large multicenter trial using donepezil for AD treatment of nursing home (NH) populations revealed a statistically significant (P<0.05) difference (in favor of donepezil) in the individual agitation/aggression response of the NPI/NH assessment tool.41 Similar findings with rivastigmine and galantamine (both cholinesterase inhibitors) have recently been revealed.42 The common limitation of all these studies is that 65% or fewer of the patients were considered responders either for psychosis or aggression at doses with a benign side-effect profile.