RxPG News : Antidepressants

Antidepressants that are more efficient and faster

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 05:00:00 PST

In the PhD defended by the pharmacologist and biochemist Jorge Emilio Ortega Calvo at the University of the Basque Country, a new anti-depressant treatment strategy is proposed that is capable of improving on the current one with its drawbacks.

Antidepressant Augmentation Can Be Useful in Treatment Resistant Elderly Patients

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 16:00:00 PST

Adding a medication to a standard treatment regimen for major depressive disorder in the elderly improves chances of recovery in those who do not adequately respond to the first-course therapy or who relapse from it, finds a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine study published in the June issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, the official journal of the American Psychiatric Association.

Certain anti-depressants double fracture risk

Tue, 23 Jan 2007 14:21:39 PST

New York, Jan 23 - Daily use of certain anti-depressant drugs could double the risk of fractures in adults above 50 years of age because of their effect on bone physiology, says a new study.

STAR*D Trial: Third antidepressant medication might help in treatment-resistant depression

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 21:01:00 PST

The next wave of results from the nation's largest real-world study of treatment-resistant depression shows that patients had a moderate chance of becoming symptom-free when they switched to a third antidepressant medication, following two previously unsuccessful medication attempts. These results from the Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) trial, funded by NIMH, were published in the American Journal of Psychiatry on July 1, 2006.

SSRI anti-depressants may cause stillbirth

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 13:54:00 PST

Women who take a type of antidepressant medication during pregnancy face the risk of a stillborn baby, warns a study. Canadian researchers at the University of Ottawa compared the health of babies born to 972 women taking SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) with that of babies born to mothers who did not use anti-depressants.

Anti-depressant use associated with increased risk for heart patients

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 17:24:00 PST

In a surprising finding, patients with coronary artery disease who take commonly used antidepressant drugs may be at significantly higher risk of death, Duke University Medical Center researchers have found. Even after controlling for such factors as age, degree of heart disease and severity of depression, the researchers found that heart patients taking antidepressant medications had a 55 percent higher risk of dying. Previously, Duke researchers reported that the presence of depression is an important risk factor for heart patients. This new finding of the risk from anti-depressants raises issues about the optimal way to treat depression in cardiac patients, the researchers said. According to Duke team leader Lana Watkins, Ph.D., the researchers believe their findings add further support for the potential role oft non-pharmocological approaches to treating depression, such as exercise, in reducing the risk of death in depressed heart patients. She said that physicians caring for heart patients who are taking antidepressants should monitor patients closely.

SSRIs linked with increased risk of persistent pulmonary hypertension in newborns

Fri, 10 Feb 2006 15:52:00 PST

A University of California , San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine collaborative study with Boston University s Slone Epidemiology Center found an increased risk of persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPHN) in newborns of mothers who used certain commonly prescribed antidepressants in late pregnancy. The results of the study will be published in the February 9 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Antidepressants may affect human immune system

Sat, 21 Jan 2006 21:54:00 PST

Drugs that treat depression by manipulating the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain may also affect the user's immune system in ways that are not yet understood, say scientists from Georgetown University Medical Center and a Canadian research institute.

Suicide risk decrease after initiation of antidepressants

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 20:41:00 PST

The risk of serious suicide attempts or death by suicide generally decreases in the weeks after patients start taking antidepressant medication, according to a new study led by Group Health Cooperative researchers and published in the January issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry. The study also found that the risk of suicidal behavior after starting 10 newer antidepressant medications is less than the risk posed by older medications. These findings challenge a 2004 advisory by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which warned that suicidal behavior may emerge after treatment with the newer antidepressant drugs has begun.

'Promiscuous' area of brain could explain role of antidepressants

Thu, 07 Apr 2005 18:11:00 PST

A study at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston may lead to a better understanding of how antidepressants like Prozac work and how to make them more effective.

Cordance QEEG can assess Susceptibility to Antidepressant Side Effects

Thu, 31 Mar 2005 16:10:00 PST

In a finding that opens new doors to determining susceptibility to antidepressant side effects, researchers at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute report that changes in brain activity prior to treatment with antidepressants can flag patient vulnerability.

Research shows St. John's Wart as effective as Paroxetine

Fri, 11 Feb 2005 19:43:00 PST

A specially manufactured extract from the herb St John's Wort is at least as effective in treating depression as a commonly prescribed anti-depressant, according to new research published on bmj.com today.

Multiple Medication Use Increase as a Function of Age and Antidepressant Use,studies show

Sun, 06 Feb 2005 11:57:00 PST

Two new studies show that combinations of medications taken by patients vary widely, making it extremely difficult to monitor or predict drug-drug interactions.The articles published in the January 2005 issue of the Journal of Psychiatric Practice found that virtually no two patients on more than one drug were taking the same combination of medications,which highlights the difficulty of monitoring for and predicting potentially dangerous drug-drug interactions.