# Escitalopram for Agitation in Alzheimer Disease

> **NIH NIH R01** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $332,357

## Abstract

ABSTRACT/PROJECT SUMMARY FOR SUPPLEMENT
Agitation is common in Alzheimer's disease (AD), and a major burden to patients and caregivers.
Finding effective treatments is a priority. S-CitAD is a placebo-controlled, randomized trial investigating
the efficacy of a 12-week treatment with escitalopram to reduce agitation in patients with Alzheimer's
disease (AD) across 25 sites in the United States and Canada. Prior to treatment with escitalopram,
caregivers are given a psychosocial intervention, and only those patients whose agitation is not
improved are assigned to pharmacologic treatment. That patients' symptoms can respond to
psychosocial intervention provided to caregivers underscores the influence of caregiver distress on
neuropsychiatric symptoms, and agitation in particular, in patients with AD. Accordingly, characterizing
the circumstances under which caregiver distress is most likely to affect agitation would provide
valuable data to pursue in future studies of non-pharmacological interventions for agitation in AD. In
this supplement, we propose to conduct a telephone interview with S-CitAD caregivers to examine the
association between caregiver distress and neuropsychiatric symptoms in individuals with AD.
Specifically, we propose to examine the role of “COVID-related factors” (i.e., personally infected, death
of friend or family member, economic hardship), environmental factors (i.e. extent of quarantine by
state/province, access to hospital beds, average household income), caregiver distress, and
neuropsychiatric symptoms on S-CitAD participants. These measures will complement the measures
already used in S-CitAD, and thereby enrich the findings of the S-CitAD trial within the scope of the
parent study aims. Specifically, this supplement will allow for a penetrating examination of factors that
bear relevance to the initial, non-pharmacological phase of S-CitAD treatment.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10409068
- **Project number:** 3R01AG052510-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** CONSTANTINE G LYKETSOS
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $332,357
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2016-09-30 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10409068

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10409068, Escitalopram for Agitation in Alzheimer Disease (3R01AG052510-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10409068. Licensed CC0.

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