Some statistically significant differences between citalopram and other antidepressants for the acute phase treatment of major depression were found in terms of efficacy , tolerability and acceptability .
Citalopram was more efficacious than paroxetine and reboxetine and more acceptable than tricyclics , reboxetine and venlafaxine , however , it seemed to be less efficacious than escitalopram .
BACKGROUND Recent US and UK clinical practice guidelines recommend that second-generation antidepressants should be considered amongst the best first-line options when drug therapy is indicated for a depressive episode .
Systematic review s have already highlighted some differences in efficacy between second-generation antidepressants .
Citalopram , one of the first selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors ( SSRI ) introduced in the market , is one of these antidepressant drugs that clinicians use for routine depression care .
OBJECTIVES To assess the evidence for the efficacy , acceptability and tolerability of citalopram in comparison with tricyclics , heterocyclics , other SSRIs and other conventional and non-conventional antidepressants in the acute-phase treatment of major depression .
Differential prediction of first clinical response to serotonergic and noradrenergic antidepressants using the loudness dependence of auditory evoked potentials in patients with major depressive disorder.
OBJECTIVE Predictors of treatment response to serotonergic versus nonserotonergic , e.g. , noradrenergic , antidepressants are of considerable clinical relevance as they could help to reduce the occurrence of patients ' receiving weeks or even months of unsuccessful treatment . Several studies show that the response to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors can be successfully predicted by using the loudness dependence of auditory evoked potentials ( LDAEP ) , which denotes change in the amplitudes in response to different stimulus intensities and is to date one of the best vali date d indicators of the central serotonergic system . The aim of the current r and omized prospect i ve study was to investigate whether or not LDAEP also allows the differential prediction of treatment response to serotonergic versus noradrenergic antidepressants . METHOD Electrophysiologic recordings were performed on 48 subjects between 1999 and 2001 . After exclusions due to artifacts , the study sample consisted of 35 unmedicated in patients with a DSM-IV or ICD-10 diagnosis of major depressive disorder ( mean + /- SD age = 42.5 + /- 10.8 years ; 13 male , 22 female ; mean + /- SD score of 28.9 + /- 5.7 on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression [ HAM-D ] , the primary measure for psychopathology ) . The patients were then treated for 4 weeks with either the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor citalopram or the noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor reboxetine . RESULTS Analysis of variance ( F = 5.05 , df = 1,31 ; p = .03 ) revealed that responders ( 50 % improvement in HAM-D score ) to the citalopram treatment were characterized by a strong LDAEP at baseline , and responders to reboxetine were characterized by a weak LDAEP at baseline . Non-responders to citalopram or reboxetine showed the inverse LDAEP characteristics , respectively . CONCLUSION This study is one of the first to demonstrate differential prediction of response to different classes of antidepressants . Patients at the beginning of an antidepressant treatment who show an initially strong LDAEP have a greater probability of responding to a serotonin-agonist antidepressant , whereas patients with a weak LDAEP will probably benefit more from a nonserotonergic , e.g. , noradrenergic , antidepressant . If these results were replicated in a larger sample , this simple electroencephalographic method could be more broadly used in clinical practice to support clinicians in replacing the trial and error method with a more targeted and individualized approach to antidepressant treatment
Some statistically significant differences between citalopram and other antidepressants for the acute phase treatment of major depression were found in terms of efficacy , tolerability and acceptability .
Citalopram was more efficacious than paroxetine and reboxetine and more acceptable than tricyclics , reboxetine and venlafaxine , however , it seemed to be less efficacious than escitalopram .
BACKGROUND Recent US and UK clinical practice guidelines recommend that second-generation antidepressants should be considered amongst the best first-line options when drug therapy is indicated for a depressive episode .
Systematic review s have already highlighted some differences in efficacy between second-generation antidepressants .
Citalopram , one of the first selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors ( SSRI ) introduced in the market , is one of these antidepressant drugs that clinicians use for routine depression care .
OBJECTIVES To assess the evidence for the efficacy , acceptability and tolerability of citalopram in comparison with tricyclics , heterocyclics , other SSRIs and other conventional and non-conventional antidepressants in the acute-phase treatment of major depression .