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@ARTICLE{Maier:151663,
author = {Maier, Franziska and Spottke, Annika and Bach, Jan-Philipp
and Bartels, Claudia and Bürger, Katharina and Dodel,
Richard and Fellgiebel, Andreas and Fliessbach, Klaus and
Frölich, Lutz and Hausner, Lucrezia and Hellmich, Martin
and Klöppel, Stefan and Klostermann, Arne and Kornhuber,
Johannes and Laske, Christoph and Peters, Oliver and
Priller, Josef and Richter-Schmidinger, Tanja and Schneider,
Anja and Shah-Hosseini, Kija and Teipel, Stefan and von
Arnim, Christine A. F. and Wiltfang, Jens and Jessen, Frank},
title = {{B}upropion for the {T}reatment of {A}pathy in {A}lzheimer
{D}isease},
journal = {JAMA network open},
volume = {3},
number = {5},
issn = {2574-3805},
address = {Chicago, Ill.},
publisher = {American Medical Association},
reportid = {DZNE-2020-01242},
pages = {e206027},
year = {2020},
abstract = {Importance Apathy is a frequent neuropsychiatric symptom in
dementia of Alzheimer type and negatively affects the
disease course and patients’ and caregivers’ quality of
life. Effective treatment options are needed.Objective To
examine the efficacy and safety of the dopamine and
noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor bupropion in the treatment
of apathy in patients with dementia of Alzheimer
type.Design, Setting, and Participants This 12-week,
multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized
clinical trial was conducted in a psychiatric and
neurological outpatient setting between July 2010 and July
2014 in Germany. Patients with mild-to-moderate dementia of
Alzheimer type and clinically relevant apathy were included.
Patients with additional clinically relevant depressed mood
were excluded. Data analyses were performed between August
2018 and August 2019.Interventions Patients received either
bupropion or placebo (150 mg for 4 weeks plus 300 mg for 8
weeks). In case of intolerability of 300 mg, patients
continued to receive 150 mg throughout the study.Main
Outcomes and Measures Change on the Apathy Evaluation
Scale–Clinician Version (AES-C) (score range, 18-72
points) between baseline and week 12 was the primary outcome
parameter. Secondary outcome parameters included measures of
neuropsychiatric symptoms, cognition, activities of daily
living, and quality of life. Outcome measures were assessed
at baseline and at 4, 8, and 12 weeks.Results A total of 108
patients (mean [SD] age, 74.8 [5.9] years; 67 men $[62\%])$
were included in the intention-to-treat analysis, with 54
randomized to receive bupropion and 54 randomized to receive
placebo. The baseline AES-C score was comparable between the
bupropion group and the placebo group (mean [SD], 52.2 [8.7]
vs 50.4 [8.2]). After controlling for the baseline AES-C
score, site, and comedication with donepezil or galantamine,
the mean change in the AES-C score between the bupropion and
placebo groups was not statistically significant (mean
change, 2.22; $95\%$ CI, –0.47 to 4.91; P = .11).
Results on secondary outcomes showed statistically
significant differences between bupropion and placebo in
terms of total neuropsychiatric symptoms (mean change, 5.52;
$95\%$ CI, 2.00 to 9.04; P = .003) and health-related
quality of life (uncorrected for multiple comparisons; mean
change, –1.66; $95\%$ CI, –3.01 to –0.31; P = .02)
with greater improvement in the placebo group. No
statistically significant changes between groups were found
for activities of daily living (mean change, –2.92; $95\%$
CI, –5.89 to 0.06; P = .05) and cognition (mean
change, –0.27; $95\%$ CI, –3.26 to 2.73; P = .86).
The numbers of adverse events (bupropion group, 39 patients
$[72.2\%];$ placebo group, 33 patients $[61.1\%])$ and
serious adverse events (bupropion group, 5 patients
$[9.3\%];$ placebo group, 2 patients $[3.7\%])$ were
comparable between groups.Conclusions and Relevance Although
it is safe, bupropion was not superior to placebo for the
treatment of apathy in patients with dementia of Alzheimer
type in the absence of clinically relevant depressed
mood.Trial Registration EU Clinical Trials Register
Identifier: 2007-005352-17},
cin = {Patient Studies (Bonn) / AG Teipel / AG Höglinger / AG
Spottke / Clinical Research (Munich) / AG Gasser / AG Peters
/ AG Priller / AG Wiltfang / AG Jessen},
ddc = {610},
cid = {I:(DE-2719)1011101 / I:(DE-2719)1510100 /
I:(DE-2719)1110002 / I:(DE-2719)1011103 / I:(DE-2719)1111015
/ I:(DE-2719)1210000 / I:(DE-2719)5000000 /
I:(DE-2719)5000007 / I:(DE-2719)1410006 /
I:(DE-2719)1011102},
pnm = {344 - Clinical and Health Care Research (POF3-344)},
pid = {G:(DE-HGF)POF3-344},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)16},
pubmed = {pmid:32463470},
doi = {10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.6027},
url = {https://pub.dzne.de/record/151663},
}