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Research Article| Volume 22, ISSUE 6, P733-740, June 1987

Clinical predictors of response to antidepressants in elderly patients

  • Anastasios Georgotas
    Correspondence
    Address reprint requests to Dr. A. Georgotas, Depression Studies Program, Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, 550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016.
    Affiliations
    From the Department of Psychiatry New York University School of Medicine; the Department of Clinical Psychopharmacology in Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY USA

    From the Depression Studies Program New York University School of Medicine; the Department of Clinical Psychopharmacology in Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY USA
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  • Robert E. McCue
    Affiliations
    From the Department of Psychiatry New York University School of Medicine; the Department of Clinical Psychopharmacology in Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY USA
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  • Thomas Cooper
    Affiliations
    From the Nathan Kline Institute and New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY USA
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  • Irene Chang
    Affiliations
    From the Depression Studies Program New York University School of Medicine; the Department of Clinical Psychopharmacology in Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY USA
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  • Pervez Mir
    Affiliations
    From the Department of Psychology, New York University Medical Center, New York, NY USA
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  • Joan Welkowitz
    Affiliations
    From the Depression Studies Program New York University School of Medicine; the Department of Clinical Psychopharmacology in Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY USA

    From the Department of Psychology, New York University School of Medicine; the Department of Clinical Psychopharmacology in Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY USA
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DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-3223(87)90205-8
Clinical predictors of response to antidepressants in elderly patients
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      Abstract

      A group of 42 patients, ages 55 and above, suffering from major depression were examined in an attempt to isolate clinical variables that would predict response to antidepressants. These patients were part of a placebo-controlled, double-blind study and were given either nortriptyline or phenelzine for 5–7 weeks. There was no significant difference in response rates between patients subclassified as endogenous or nonendogenous by either RDC or Newcastle criteria. No difference in response rates was found between the DSM-III melancholic and nonmelancholic subtypes. Neither drug preferentially treated a sub-type. None of the 21 variables representing symptoms, demographic traits, or characteristics of the depressive illness were found to be significant predictors of antidepressant response.
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      Article info

      Publication history

      Received in revised form: November 24, 1986
      Received: June 2, 1986
      The authors wish to thank Ethel Edelstein and Grete Greene for their excellent secretarial assistance. We would also like to acknowledge the expert technical assistance of David Allen and Brenda Katos for nortriptyline assays, as well as Mary Armour and Joan Kuster for MAO assays.

      Footnotes

      Supported in part by NIMH Grant MH35196 (A.C.).

      Identification

      DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-3223(87)90205-8

      Copyright

      © 1987 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc.

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