0000000001020173
AUTHOR
D. Angersbach
Response to treatment in minor and major depression: results of a double-blind comparative study with paroxetine and maprotiline.
Several concepts of minor depression in the sense of acute but less severe symptomatology than major depression have been proposed in the literature, but currently none of them is generally accepted. For the treatment of these conditions, only few recommendations based on empirical data are available. We conducted a randomized double-blind multicentre study in depressed outpatients comparing paroxetine and maprotiline in both patients with minor (n = 245) and major depression (n = 298). For the diagnosis, Research Diagnostic Criteria were used in a modified version. Two response criteria were applied: a reduction of 50% or more in total HAMD-17 scores from baseline (criterion 1), and a redu…
A double-blind study comparing paroxetine and maprotiline in depressed outpatients.
A double-blind multicenter randomized parallel group study comparing paroxetine and maprotiline was carried out in a total of 544 outpatients. Included were patients with varying degrees of severity of depressive symptoms who fulfilled modified RDC criteria for either Minor or Major Depression and showed a HAMD-17 score of > or = 13. No concomitant benzodiazepine treatment was allowed. Duration of treatment was 6 weeks, after an initial wash-out period. Doses were fixed during the first 3 weeks of treatment, patients receiving either 20 mg paroxetine or 100 mg maprotiline daily. An option for dose escalation was provided for insufficient responders after 3 weeks. The weekly assessments comp…