Depression Treatment: Duloxetine : A Review of Its Use in the Management of Major Depressive Disorder in Older Adults.

Duloxetine : A Review of Its Use in the Management of Major Depressive Disorder in Older Adults.

Filed under: Depression Treatment

Drugs Aging. 2012 Dec 14;
Dhillon S

Duloxetine (Cymbalta(®)) is a selective serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor indicated for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). This article reviews the therapeutic efficacy and tolerability of duloxetine in older adults with MDD and summarizes its pharmacological properties. Treatment with duloxetine significantly improved several measures of cognition, depression, anxiety, pain and health-related quality-of-life (HR-QOL) in older adults with MDD in two 8-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials. However, no significant improvements in measures of depression were observed at week 12 (primary endpoint) of a 24-week, double-blind trial, although symptoms of depression did improve significantly at earlier timepoints. Benefit of treatment was also observed during continued therapy in the 24-week study (i.e. after the 12-week primary endpoint) and in an open-label, 52-week study, with improvements being observed in some measures of depression, pain and HR-QOL. Duloxetine was generally well tolerated in these studies, with nausea, dizziness and adverse events reflecting noradrenergic activity (e.g. dry mouth, constipation) being the most common treatment-emergent adverse events during treatment for up to 52 weeks. Duloxetine therapy had little effect on cardiovascular parameters and bodyweight. Although further well designed and long-term studies in this patient population are required to confirm the efficacy of duloxetine and to compare it with that of other antidepressants, current evidence suggests that treatment with duloxetine may be beneficial in older adults with MDD.
HubMed – depression

Competition between substrate-mediated ?-? stacking and surface-mediated T(g) depression in ultrathin conjugated polymer films.

Filed under: Depression Treatment

Eur Phys J E Soft Matter. 2012 Dec; 35(12): 9807
Wang T, Pearson AJ, Dunbar AD, Staniec PA, Watters DC, Coles D, Yi H, Iraqi A, Lidzey DG, Jones RA

We report surface and interface effects in dynamics and chain conformation in the thin film of conjugated polymer PCDTBT. To probe dynamic anomalies, we measure the glass transition temperature (T(g)) of PCDTBT films as a function of thickness, and find that there is a significant depression in T(g) for films less than 100nm thick; a result qualitatively similar to that observed in many other polymer film systems. However, for films less than 40nm, the T(g) converges to a constant value of 20K below its bulk value. Grazing incidence X-ray diffraction shows depth-dependent molecular organization that is associated with the unusual thickness-dependent dynamics.
HubMed – depression

SF-36v2 norms and its’ discriminative properties among healthy households of tuberculosis patients in Malaysia.

Filed under: Depression Treatment

Qual Life Res. 2012 Dec 14;
Atif M, Sulaiman SA, Shafie AA, Asif M, Ahmad N

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to obtain norms of the SF-36v2 health survey and the association of summary component scores with socio-demographic variables in healthy households of tuberculosis (TB) patients. DESIGN: All household members (18 years and above; healthy; literate) of registered tuberculosis patients who came for contact tracing during March 2010 to February 2011 at the respiratory clinic of Penang General Hospital were invited to complete the SF-36v2 health survey using the official translation of the questionnaire in Malay, Mandarin, Tamil and English. Scoring of the questionnaire was done using Quality Metric’s QM Certified Scoring Software version 4. Multivariate analysis was conducted to uncover the predictors of physical and mental health. RESULTS: A total of 649 eligible respondents were approached, while 525 agreed to participate in the study (response rate = 80.1 %). Out of consenting respondents, 46.5 % were male and only 5.3 % were over 75 years. Internal consistencies met the minimum criteria (? > 0.7). Reliability coefficients of the scales were always less than their own reliability coefficients. Mean physical component summary scale scores were equivalent to United States general population norms. However, there was a difference of more than three norm-based scoring points for mean mental component summary scores indicating poor mental health. A notable proportion of the respondents was at the risk of depression. Respondents aged 75 years and above (p = 0.001; OR 32.847), widow (p = 0.013; OR 2.599) and postgraduates (p < 0.001; OR 7.865) were predictors of poor physical health while unemployment (p = 0.033; OR 1.721) was the only predictor of poor mental health. CONCLUSION: The SF-36v2 is a valid instrument to assess HRQoL among the households of TB patients. Study findings indicate the existence of poor mental health and risk of depression among family caregivers of TB patients. We therefore recommend that caregivers of TB patients to be offered intensive support and special attention to cope with these emotional problems. HubMed – depression

Phone Therapy Can Treat Depression: Study – BY LYNDSEY GARZA Psychotherapists are phoning in — as a new study by the American Medical Association suggests tele-therapy could be an effective treatment for depression. Denver’s KDVR has more… “It comes as no surprise a new study suggests getting psychotherapy by phone may make sense too. A study published… found that tele-therapy encourages more depressed patients to get help for their mental affliction.” In the study, 325 patients were assigned to receive in-person or telephone treatment. Critics suggest those who are able to retain tele-therapy might be more severely depressed and therefore — more inclined to drop out of traditional therapy. According to WebMD, most who dropout of traditional psychotherapy do so in the first few weeks. “Telephone therapy was able to reduce dropout. Four out of five who got therapy over the phone could complete 18 weeks of treatment, while only two out of three assigned to face-to-face therapy could complete treatment… Patients a lot of times tell us they prefer this. And it could be especially attractive for people in rural areas or those with physical disability.” The research suggests phone therapy could overcome barriers like transportation, availability of services, effort and time. The study’s author says there is a misconception that people who drop out of therapy simply don’t want help — when in reality it is typically barriers that prevent continuation. But a director of geriatric psychiatry argues without face-to-face …

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