Researchers from University of Utrecht report recent findings in depression.(Report)

"Antidepressant treatment in primary care is inconsistent with treatment recommendations. and many patients discontinue treatment within 6 months. How this affects treatment outcomes is unknown," researchers in Netherlands report (see also Depression).

"The aim of this study was to assess how length of the first antidepressant episode influences risk and time to a second treatment episode within 5 years. The study population included 9423 adults (67% women: mean age, 47.3 years) who initiated selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor use ill 1998 or 1999. Based oil the length of the first antidepressant treatment g episode. patients were divided into early discontinuers (12 months). The Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate risk ratios (RRS) tor the association between the length of the first antidepressant treatment episode and time to reinitiating antidepressant treatment. Time to a second treatment episode did not differ significantly between continuing users and early (discontinuers (RR. 0.99; 95% confidence interval, 0.92-1.07). Persistent users showed a higher risk of experiencing a second treatment episode than early discontinuers (RR, 1.23: 95% confidence interval, 1.15-1.32)," wrote H. Gardarsdottir and colleagues, University of Utrecht.

The researchers concluded: "The risk of experiencing a second antidepressant treatment episode did not differ for those who used antidepressants for 6 to 12 months and those who discontinued early. In general, there is limited information oil how length of an antidepressant treatment episode influences the risk of reinitiating treatment of patients in primary care. More research is needed to ...