No Depression Articles

An article published in the May 28 issue of JAMA reports
that patients who took the drug escitalopram or participated in a
problem-solving therapy group during the year following a stroke were
found to have a lower risk of depression compared to patients who
received
placebo.
Of the over 700,000 incidences of stroke per year in the United States,
more than half lead to depression. "Post-stroke depression has been
shown in
numerous studies to be associated with both impaired recovery in
activities of daily living and increased mortality. Prevention of
depression thus represents a potentially important goal," write author
Robert. G. Robinson, M.D. (University of Iowa, Iowa City) and
colleagues.
Testing the efficacy of the anti-depressant drug
escitalopram or problem-solving therapy in comparison to placebo,
Robinson and colleagues conducted a randomized controlled trial with
176 stroke patients. Within three months of the stroke, 59 patients
were randomly assigned to take escitalopram for 12 months, 59 were
assigned to the problem-solving
therapy group, and 58 were assigned to the placebo group. In the
problem-solving therapy group, patients received six treatment sessions
and six reinforcement
sessions; part of the program consisted of selecting a problem and
working through
steps to develop a plan of action.
The researchers found that depression had developed in 22.4% of
patients in the placebo group, 8.5% in the escitalopram group,
and 11.9% in the problem-solving therapy group. In other words,
patients in the placebo group were 4.5 times and 2.2 times more likely
to develop depression than the escitalopram and the problem-solving
therapy group, respectively. The authors note that, "Based only on the
frequency of depression
onset during the one year of treatment, 7.2 acute stroke patients would
need to be treated with escitalopram to prevent one case of depression
and 9.1 acute stroke patients would need to be treated with
problem-solving therapy to prevent one case of depression."
Using a more conservative method of data analysis, the researchers
still found that escitalopram resulted in more favorable results than
placebo - 23.1% of escitalopram patients developed depression compared
to 34.5% in the placebo group. However, in these additional analyses,
30.5% of the problem-solving therapy group developed depression - not
significantly better
than placebo. Lastly, on significant difference among the groups was
noted regarding the frequency of adverse events.
"The clinical implications of our findings are that patients who are
given escitalopram or problem-solving therapy following acute stroke
may be spared depression and perhaps its adverse consequences,"
conclude the
authors.
Escitalopram and Problem-Solving Therapy for Prevention of
Poststroke Depression: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Robert G. Buy generic cialis Robinson; Ricardo E. Jorge; David J. Moser; Laura Acion; Ana
Solodkin; Steven L. Small; Pasquale Fonzetti; Mark Hegel; Stephan Arndt
JAMA (2008). 299[20]:2391 - 2400.
Click
Here to View Abstract
Written by: Peter M Crosta
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today
Generic lexapro pills no prescription | generic viagra online buy | Buy lasix without prescription

Tags: depression, health

Comments are closed.