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A double-blind, fixed blood-level study comparing mirtazapine with imipramine in depressed in-patients
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Bruijn, Jan A. Broek, Walter W. Van Den Hulst, A. M. Van Mast, Roos C. Van Der Wetering, Ben J. M. Van De Moleman, Peter Mulder, Paul G. H. |
| Copyright Year | 2005 |
| Abstract | Antidepressant effects of mirtazapine and imipramine were compared in a randomized, double blind, fixed blood-level study with in-patients in a single centre. Patients with a DSM-III-R diagnosis of major depression and a Hamilton (17-item) score of ≥18 were selected. After a drug-free and a placebowashout period of 7 days in total, 107 patients still fulfilling the HRSD criterion of ≥18, started on active treatment. The dose was adjusted to a predefined fixed blood level to avoid suboptimal dosing of imipramine. Concomitant psychotropic medication was administered only in a few cases because of intolerable anxiety or intolerable psychotic symptoms. Eight patients dropped out and two were excluded from analyses because of non-compliance; 97 completed the study. According to the main response criterion (50% or more reduction on the HRSD score) 11/51 (21.6%) patients responded on mirtazapine and 23/46 (50%) on imipramine after 4 weeks' treatment on the predefined blood level. Such a dramatic difference in efficacy between antidepressants has not often been reported before. The selection of (severely ill) in-patients, including those with suicidal or psychotic features, may have significance in this respect. Optimization of treatment with the reference drug imipramine through blood level control, exclusion of non-compliance for both drugs, exclusion of most concomitant medication and a low drop-out rate may also have contributed. It is concluded that imipramine is superior to mirtazapine in the patient population studied. |
| Starting Page | 231 |
| Ending Page | 237 |
| Page Count | 7 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.1007/BF02246131 |
| PubMed reference number | 8912401 |
| Journal | Medline |
| Volume Number | 127 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://page-one.springer.com/pdf/preview/10.1007/BF02246131 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://repub.eur.nl/pub/70670/art-3A10.1007-2FBF02246131.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02246131 |
| Journal | Psychopharmacology |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
