Geriatric psychopharmacology. Management of late-life depression and the noncognitive behavioral disturbances of Alzheimer's disease.

As the proportion of elderly persons in the population continues to grow, the management of the behavioral disorders of later life will become an increasingly important part of clinical practice. Although psychotropic medications are prescribed widely to older persons, the data base derived from well-designed clinical psychopharmacologic trials in elderly patients is surprisingly small. This article reviews the psychopharmacologic management of the two most prevalent categories of behavioral disorders of later life: late-life depression and the noncognitive behavioral disturbances that complicate Alzheimer's disease. Because diagnostic and epidemiologic issues are pertinent to the psychopharmacologic management of both categories of disorders, these issues also are discussed.