Abstract

Assessing the early response to antidepressant therapy following 2 to 4 weeks has been proven to accurately predict remission by 8-12 weeks. The majority of previous literature data evaluated randomized controlled trials. Aim: The present study aimed to evaluate the early response of adult subjects with a major depressive disorder to antidepressant medications. Methods: The study assessed various baseline drops in Patient Health Questionnaire 9 scores at various time intervals. Clinical and demographic data were assessed from early responders and the subjects lacking the early response. It was also assessed whether early response predicted the response, remission and more than minimal improvement at week 14. Results: The logistic regression models had high accuracy of 78.2% for predicting remission and was significant with a p-value of <0.001. There were 3.2 times more chances of remission in early responders compared to non-early responders. For the response, similar results were noted where the accuracy was 66.3% and the significance was seen with p<0.001. Similar results were noted for the GTMI outcomes showing an accuracy of 74.4% and a high significance with p<0.001. A 3.6 times high response was seen in the early response group at 14 weeks and the GTMI was 4.9 times higher in non-early responders. Conclusion: The present study concludes that early response can be linked to better treatment outcomes at week 14, and in subjects lacking the response by week 4, dopamine reuptake inhibitors and norepinephrine were prescribed considering they will attain better outcomes.

Description