Benefits of Switching Antidepressants Following Early Nonresponse

Summary

Introduction and Purpose: Most of the guidelines for the treatment of major depression recommend the use of antidepressants for 4 to 8 weeks. On the other hand, it has been recently reported that they start to show their antidepressant efficacy within a couple of weeks (1,2), contrary to the conventional theory. In addition, a good response (i.e. a 20% reduction in the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale \[MADRS\]) at week 2 is proposed to be a predictor of subsequent remission at week 6 (3,4), while nonresponse at week 2 could predict unfavourable outcome at week 8 (5). Furthermore, early worsening is suggested to be related to a low rate of remission at weeks 8 and 12(6).

Timeline

Start

2007-08

Primary completion

2010-12

Completion

2010-12

Publications

• Background Papakostas GI, Perlis RH, Scalia MJ, Petersen TJ, Fava M. A meta-analysis of early sustained response rates between antidepressants and placebo for the treatment of major depressive disorder. J Clin Psychopharmacol. 2006 Feb;26(1):56-60. doi: 10.1097/01.jcp.0000195042.62724.76.
• Background Taylor MJ, Freemantle N, Geddes JR, Bhagwagar Z. Early onset of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressant action: systematic review and meta-analysis. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2006 Nov;63(11):1217-23. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.63.11.1217.
• Background Katz MM, Tekell JL, Bowden CL, Brannan S, Houston JP, Berman N, Frazer A. Onset and early behavioral effects of pharmacologically different antidepressants and placebo in depression. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2004 Mar;29(3):566-79. doi: 10.1038/sj.npp.1300341.
• Background Szegedi A, Muller MJ, Anghelescu I, Klawe C, Kohnen R, Benkert O. Early improvement under mirtazapine and paroxetine predicts later stable response and remission with high sensitivity in patients with major depression. J Clin Psychiatry. 2003 Apr;64(4):413-20. doi: 10.4088/jcp.v64n0410.
• Background Nierenberg AA, McLean NE, Alpert JE, Worthington JJ, Rosenbaum JF, Fava M. Early nonresponse to fluoxetine as a predictor of poor 8-week outcome. Am J Psychiatry. 1995 Oct;152(10):1500-3. doi: 10.1176/ajp.152.10.1500.
• Background Cusin C, Fava M, Amsterdam JD, Quitkin FM, Reimherr FW, Beasley CM Jr, Rosenbaum JF, Perlis RH. Early symptomatic worsening during treatment with fluoxetine in major depressive disorder: prevalence and implications. J Clin Psychiatry. 2007 Jan;68(1):52-7. doi: 10.4088/jcp.v68n0107.

Drugs

Indications