Table 1.
Demographics and clinical variables at baseline
| Total | Sertraline | Placebo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. randomized | 131 | 67 | 64 |
| Age, mean (sd), years | 77.3 (8.0) | 76.5 (8.0) | 78.2 (8.0) |
| Gender, % | |||
| Female | 54.2 | 59.7 | 48.4 |
| Male | 45.8 | 40.3 | 51.6 |
| Ethnic Group, % | |||
| White, non-Hispanic | 67.2 | 73.1 | 60.9 |
| African-American | 21.4 | 17.9 | 25.0 |
| Hispanic / Latino | 10.7 | 7.5 | 14.1 |
| Asian | 0.8 | 1.5 | 0 |
| Marital status, % | |||
| Married | 64.1 | 64.2 | 64.1 |
| Widowed | 25.2 | 26.9 | 23.4 |
| Divorced / separated | 6.1 | 4.5 | 7.8 |
| Never married | 4.6 | 4.5 | 4.7 |
| Education, mean (sd), years | 12.5 (3.7) | 13.2 (3.6) | 11.8 (3.8) |
| Duration of dementia, mean (sd), years | 2.8 (2.2) | 2.6 (2.1) | 3.1 (2.3) |
| Depression episodes before cognitive symptoms, % | |||
| No episodes | 74.0 | 77.6 | 70.3 |
| One episode | 16.8 | 13.4 | 20.3 |
| Two or more episodes | 7.6 | 6.0 | 9.4 |
| Missing | 1.5 | 3.0 | 0 |
| Depression episodes since cognitive symptoms, % | |||
| One episode | 86.3 | 86.6 | 85.9 |
| Two or more episodes | 12.9 | 12.0 | 14.1 |
| Missing | 0.8 | 1.5 | 0 |
| History of mood disorder in first degree relative, % | 16.0 | 13.4 | 18.8 |
| Personal history of mood disorder, % | 27.5 | 25.4 | 29.7 |
| Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia, median, (1st quartile, 3rd quartile) |
13 (9, 18) | 13 (9,19) | 13 (9.5, 17) |
| Mini-mental State Examination, mean (sd) | 20.0 (4.6) | 20.6 (4.5) | 19.3 (4.8) |
| Taking only cholinesterase inhibitors (%) | 38 | 40 | 36 |
| Taking only memantine (%) | 6.1 | 6.0 | 6.3 |
| Taking both memantine and cholinesterase inhibitors (%) | 26 | 25 | 26 |
| Diagnosis of Major Depressive Episode (MDE), % | 39.7 | 38.8 | 40.6 |