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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Placebo-controlled treatment trial of depression in elderly physically ill patients | | Author(s) | M Evans, M Hammond, K Wilson |
| Journal title | International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol 12, no 8, August 1997 |
| Pages | pp 817-824 |
| Keywords | Depression ; Ill health ; Drugs ; Clinical surveys ; Liverpool. |
| Annotation | Acute geriatric medical inpatients with depression at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital were randomly assigned to an 8-week double-blind placebo-controlled trial of fluoxetine, and their response to the treatment was measured by the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD). 82 patients entered the trial; 62 patients (all those who had completed at least 3 weeks of treatments) were included in the efficacy analysis. 42 completed the full 8 weeks (21 in each group) with response rates of 67% in the fluoxetine group and 38% in the placebo group. There was no significant difference in the responses of the two groups. There was a trend for results in the fluoxetine group to continue to improve with time. On secondary analysis, the 37 patients with serious physical illness who completed 5 or more weeks showed a significant improvement in mood if treated with fluoxetine. The main benefit of antidepressants is to approximately double the chances of recovery. The presence of physical illness, often severe and/or multiple did not reduce the effectiveness of the medication. The trial demonstrated that those with serious physical disease responded significantly better to drug treatment, though this requires more research. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-980827253 A |
| Classmark | ENR: CH: LLD: 3G: 84B |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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