Depression
Pain complicates depression treatment in elderly
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By interfering with normal activities, chronic pain can impede recovery from depression in older adults, according to findings reported in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Dr. Shahrzad Mavandadi, of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and colleagues examined the effects of pain on the response to depression treatment in 524 men, 60 years of age or older, who were seen at a VA medical center.
Treating depression improves diabetes control
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A study of type 2 diabetics with depression confirms that depression has a negative impact on glycemic (blood sugar) control, researchers report, and “affirms the importance of depression management in diabetic patients in its potential to improve glycemic control.”
Researchers from Missouri treated 93 patients with type 2 diabetes and depression with the antidepressant bupropion (Wellbutrin).
A simple test permits to distinguish between bipolar disorder and depression
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Patients with bipolar disorder experience manic or hypomanic episodes (euphoria) and depression. Type II bipolar disorder (hypomanic) patients are especially difficult to diagnose since their manic episodes are not very marked and they are usually diagnosed as depression patients. Choosing an incorrect treatment can be counterproductive. A study led by IDIBAPS, with the participation of PSYNCRO and 10 more hospital centres and the support of GSK, demonstrates how the HCL-32 test identifies bipolar depression in a simple way and with success above 80%. This work has been done with the Spanish version of this test.
Type II bipolar disorder is an underdiagnosed disease which can be easily confused with depression. Contrarily to what happens in type I bipolar disorder, depressive symptoms and, above all, manic symptoms alternated in this form of the disease are not evident and difficult to identify. In fact, patients suffering from it usually go to the doctor because they are depressed, without thinking that they have also had slight manic episodes (euphoria and other cognition disorders). Medical centre lack tools to identify successfully this pathology, which can take 8-10 years to be correctly diagnosed. Furthermore, antidepressant treatment can be counterproductive in patients with type II bipolar disorder. Dr. Eduard Vieta, of the group Biological Basis of the Psychic Disorder and Nuclear Psychiatry of the Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), has coordinated a study in order to validate the Spanish version of the test Hypomania symptom check list (HCL-32), which is being developed in an ample international collaboration.
Newer Class of Antidepressants Similar in Effectiveness, Side Effects Differ
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Today’s most commonly prescribed antidepressants are similar in effectiveness to each other but differ when it comes to possible side effects, according to an analysis released today by HHS’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
The findings, based on a review of nearly 300 published studies of second-generation antidepressants, show that about six in 10 adult patients get some relief from the drugs. About six in 10 also experience at least one side effect, ranging from nausea to sexual dysfunction.
Patients who don’t respond to one of the drugs often try another medication within the same class. About one in four of those patients recover, according to the review. Overall, current evidence on the drugs is insufficient for clinicians to predict which medications will work best for individual patients.
Depression detection tool to transform treatment of cancer
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25 January 2007: A tool to detect depression in cancer patients launched by the University of Liverpool will vastly improve patients’ ability to come to terms with their disease.
Depression affects 25% of patients with advanced cancer – the stage at which the disease has begun to spread from its original tumour. At this stage, depression is difficult to diagnose as symptoms can be confused with a patient displaying ‘appropriate sadness’ – feelings which commonly result from suffering a terminal illness.
Depression drugs weaken bones in elderly
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Older adults who take the most popular class of anti-depressant drugs worsen their risk of developing fragile bones, a study has shown.
Tests on a group of Canadians aged 50 or older found those taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors had 4 percent less bone mineral density in their hip bones.
Millions of people take the anti-depressants commonly called SSRIs that include Eli Lilly’s Prozac.
Prenatal antidepressants seem not to affect child
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The use of antidepressant drugs during pregnancy does not appear to have a significant effect on the behavior of the child, Canadian and Korean researchers report in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
Dr. Tim F. Oberlander of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver and colleagues compared behaviors of 22 children who were prenatally exposed to a selective serotonin uptake inhibitor (SSRI), one of a relatively new class of antidepressant drugs including Prozac and Zoloft, along with 14 unexposed children.
Depression may quadruple stroke risk for some
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People with symptoms of depression appear to be at increased risk of having a stroke or mini-stroke—but only subjects less than 65 years old—according to data from the Framingham Heart Study. The risk was not seen among individuals older than 65.
Dr. Margaret Kelly-Hayes and her associates at Boston University followed 4120 subjects in the Framingham Heart Study for up to 8 years. At the start, scores on a standard depression scale, called the CES-D, averaged 6. However, nearly 11 percent scored 16 or greater, indicating the presence of depressive symptoms.
Drugs nearing approval for mysterious pain condition
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Although not all doctors are convinced that the pain and fatigue condition diagnosed as fibromyalgia is a distinct condition, drug companies are racing to win U.S. regulatory approval to serve this potentially lucrative market.
The debilitating disorder is thought to affect an estimated 2 percent to 4 percent of Americans, mainly women. Diagnosing fibromyalgia is not easy because its cause is unknown and its symptoms, which include depression, can overlap with other conditions.
Non-Drug Treatments for Dementia Show Promise, Experts Say
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Memory training and other non-drug treatments may one day help older adults ward off declines in mental function, according to researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in an editorial in the current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
“The latest research suggests that mental training and physical activity both have promise for preventing declines in cognition,” said Sally A. Shumaker, Ph.D., lead author on the editorial. “It’s possible to envision a future treatment approach that combines lifestyle and drug treatments to meet the specific needs of each individual.”
U.S. soldiers’ suicide rate in Iraq doubles in 2005
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Suicides among U.S. soldiers in Iraq doubled last year over the previous year to return to a level seen in 2003, U.S. Army medical experts said on Tuesday.
Twenty-two U.S. soldiers in Iraq took their own lives in 2005, a rate of 19.9 per 100,000 soldiers. In 2004, the rate was 10.5 per 100,000 and in 2003, the year of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the figure was 18.8 per 100,000.
The figures cover U.S. Army soldiers only. They do not include members of other U.S. military services in Iraq such as the Marine Corps.
Depressed Seniors in Primary Care Benefit Most From Team Approach
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Depressed older adults being treated in primary care settings do better with psychosocial therapies than with antidepressant medicines, suggests a new review of evidence.
Furthermore, older adults with depression have the best response when these cognitive-behavioral therapies are delivered by interdisciplinary health teams, say reviewers led by psychologist Karyn Skultety.
Depression can be beaten, but it takes time
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Depression can be beaten in more than two thirds of patients, but it takes time and trying several combinations of treatments, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday.
The “real-world” study of 3,671 patients with major depression showed that no one drug or class of drugs works any better, the researchers said. The right combination must be found for each individual patient.
“The good news is that two thirds of people can be relieved of their depression if they can hang in there for up to four treatment steps. That’s pretty significant for a tough illness,” said Dr. A. John Rush, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who led the study.
Depression impairs asthma-related quality of life
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Depression and anxiety disorders are both associated with worse quality of life because of asthma, but only depressive disorders are associated with worse asthma control, the results of a study in the journal Chest indicate.
Dr. Kim L. Lavoie, of the University of Quebec at Montreal, Canada, and colleagues examined the relative impact of having a depressive disorder or an anxiety disorder in 504 adults with asthma.
The participants completed a psychiatric interview using the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders. The Asthma Control Questionnaire and the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire were also used. Standard lung function tests were performed in all subjects.
Depression tied to poor asthma therapy adherence
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Depressive symptoms are common among inner-city adults hospitalized for asthma flare-ups, according to a new study in the medical journal Chest.
Furthermore, such symptoms identify individuals who are unlikely to stick to their asthma medication regimen when they go home.
“Typically, when someone comes into the hospital and we treat their asthma, we don’t necessarily look at whether they are depressed,” Dr. Susan J. Bartlett commented. “But maybe we need to, because these individuals are really at very high risk of being poorly adherent to their asthma therapy once they get out of the hospital.”
