Clinical trial NCT00201474: Acute, Affective, Organic Disorders.
Official title: Signs of Organic Brain Dysfunction in Psychiatric Patients With Fluctuating Psychiatric Symptoms Including Brief Depressions Compared to Patients With a Major Depressive Episode.
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Depressive Disorders
Keywords: brief depressive episodes
affective disorders
EEG and QEEG
epilepsy
organic brain disorders
acute psychiatry
Lead sponsor: Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: St. Olavs Hospital
name: Dr. Dedichens Institute for Psychiatric Research, Oslo, Norway.
name: GlaxoSmithKline
First posted: 2005-09-20
Enrollment: 32
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: CASE_CONTROL
Time perspective: PROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Study and control groups both from a psychiatric acute ward. The patients are acutely admitted suffering from different types of depressive symptoms.

Brief summary: The purpose of the study is to investigate whether patients with brief depressive periods together with other fluctuating psychiatric symptoms, have this condition due to epilepsy or an other organic brain disorder.

Detailed description: A limited number of patients admitted to psychiatric acute wards or Psychiatric Intensive Care Units are admitted with a fluctuating array of psychiatric symptoms including brief depressive episodes. These patients do not fit into the present diagnostic systems due to short duration of affective symptoms and the fluctuating arrays of other symptoms. Case histories indicate that these patients have psychiatric conditions due to epilepsy or organic brain dysfunctions.

In the study acutely admitted patients filling criteria for two recent DSM-4 axis 1 diagnoses (one is a brief depressive period) during the last two weeks are compared to age- and sex-matched patients acutely admitted with a major depressive disorder. The patients are rated with a number of rating scales at admittance, day 5, after two weeks and three months. EEG and QEEG are taken three times the first week. MRI, drug screening and blood screening of medication-concentrations are taken.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Acutely admitted psychiatric patients who have at different times the last 2 weeks filled criteria for at least two new DSM-4 Axis 1 psychiatric diagnoses. One of them has to be a depressive episode (MADRS\>20)

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patients not speaking Norwegian or English.
* Patients not willing to participate.
* Patients with dementia or mental retardation to an extensive degree.

Primary outcomes:
measure: epilepsy or an other organic brain disorder
timeFrame: 1 week
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Trondheim
country: Norway
facility: Østmarka Psychiatric Department, St. Olavs Hospital
Study officials:
affiliation: Norwegian University of Science and Technology
name: Olav M Linaker, Professor
role: STUDY_CHAIR
References:
citation: Vaaler AE, Morken G, Iversen VC, Kondziella D, Linaker OM. Acute Unstable Depressive Syndrome (AUDS) is associated more frequently with epilepsy than major depression. BMC Neurol. 2010 Jul 30;10:67. doi: 10.1186/1471-2377-10-67.
citation: Vaaler AE, Morken G, Linaker OM, Sand T, Kvistad KA, Brathen G. Symptoms of epilepsy and organic brain dysfunctions in patients with acute, brief depression combined with other fluctuating psychiatric symptoms: a controlled study from an acute psychiatric department. BMC Psychiatry. 2009 Sep 30;9:63. doi: 10.1186/1471-244X-9-63.