Adjunctive antidepressant treatment with quetiapine in agitated depression: positive effects on symptom reduction, psychopathology and remission rates

✍ Scribed by Udo Dannlowski; Bernhard T. Baune; Iris Böckermann; Katharina Domschke; Stefan Evers; Volker Arolt; Günter Hetzel; Matthias Rothermundt

• Book ID: 102266703
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 115 KB
• Volume: 23
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6222
• DOI: 10.1002/hup.963

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Objectives

To investigate the adjunctive effects of quetiapine on overall treatment response and on specific symptoms in agitated depression.

Methods

Twenty‐one patients suffering from an acute agitated major depressive episode were enrolled in the quetiapine/venlafaxine study group (QUET) in the context of a 6‐week open‐label, flexible dose, non‐randomized case‐control study. Eighteen matched depressed patients treated with antidepressants only served as controls (CON). Clinical assessment was carried out by the use of Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM‐D) 21 scale.

Results

Both groups had high HAM‐D scores at baseline (27.6 vs. 27.5; p = 0.94). The QUET group displayed a significantly larger HAM‐D decrease already after 1 week of treatment (p = 0.026, d = 0.77). This group difference increased slightly until week 6 (p = 0.005, d = 1.0). The remission rate in the QUET group (70%) was almost double that of the CON group (38.5%), p = 0.022. The overall effect originated from various HAM‐D items indicating agitation, sleep problems and anxiety.

Conclusions

Adjunctive quetiapine treatment in agitated depression showed faster and greater response leading to higher remission rates compared with antidepressants alone. Overall clinical improvement was specifically related to single aspects of psychopathology indicating that quetiapine develops its positive effects through a variety of psychopharmacological properties. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.