Conditions: Major Depressive Disorder
Keywords: Major Depressive Disorder Apathy Duloxetine Hydrochloride SSRI Escitalopram
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 483
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The purpose of this study is to provide a comparison of the apathy, depression, and functional outcomes associated with switching to duloxetine or escitalopram in patients who have previously responded to treatment with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) for major depressive disorder and who have residual apathy in the absence of depressed mood.

Detailed description:
Apathy is reported by up to 30% of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and is hypothesized to be a treatment emergent adverse effect associated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor medication. While there is currently no consistent method for treating apathy among psychiatrists, it has been proposed that switching MDD patients to antidepressant medications containing both serotonin and norepinephrine, such as duloxetine, may reduce the incidence and severity of apathy in these patients.

Arms:
arm 1: None arm 2: None

Interventions: intervention 1: Duloxetine intervention 2: Escitalopram
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: 60-120 milligrams (mg) taken once daily (QD) by mouth (po) for 8 weeks; with option for additional 2 weeks. intervention 2: 10-20 mg taken QD po for 8 weeks; with option for additional 2 weeks.

Protocol document: