Sleep disorders (SD) in patients with dementia are very common in clinical practice. The use of antidepressants with hypnotic actions, such as trazodone, plays an important role in these cases. The aim of this study is to present a profile of the use of trazodone in demented patients with SD, as well as a review of trazodone hydrochloride in SD. We evaluated 178 elderly patients with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, clinically presenting SD and treated with hypnosedative medications. In the one-year period comprising the study, 68 (38.2%) of the 178 had sleep disorders. Most patients (114; 64%) had a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Approximately 85% of patients with SD used hypnosedative drugs. Trazodone was the most commonly used drug among patients (N = 35), with an effectiveness of 65.7%. Trazodone has been shown to be a good option for treatment of the elderly with dementia and associated SD.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia worldwide, and bears remarkable evidence for a differential prevalence among continental populations. In this scenario, estimating ancestry proportions in recently admixed populations is a strategy that can help increasing knowledge about the genetic structure of this complex trait. Our purpose was to assess mean ancestry estimates for the three main parental contributors to the Brazilian contingent (European, African and Amerindian) using a panel of 12 ancestry informative markers. Outpatients with the late-onset form of AD (n = 120) were compared for ancestry levels with non-cognitively impaired subjects (n = 412) in the Midwest Brazil, controlling for classic clinical, social and anthropometric risk factors. Our findings show a 3-fold greater genetic Amerindian content among control subjects compared to AD patients (p < 0.001). Our results suggest that the allelic architecture of Native Americans can confer protection against the onset of the disease.