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Course and rate of antidepressant response in the very old
Ariel G Gildengers1, Patricia R Houck, Benoit H Mulsant
1The Intervention Research Centers for Late-Life and Mid-Life Mood Disorders, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Objective:
The authors examined elderly patients with major depression to determine the relationship of current age to treatment response course and success rate.
Methods:
Three studies of elderly depressed patients provided data on antidepressant treatment response in 323 subjects, treated in protocols using either nortriptyline or paroxetine. We grouped the subjects by current age: 'young-old' (59-69, N=163), 'middle-old' (70-75, N=80), and 'older-old' (76-99, N=80). We employed mixed-effect random regression analyses to examine Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression scores over 12 weeks of acute treatment.
Results:
Older-old patients responded as quickly and successfully as the young- and middle-old.
Conclusions:
Major depression in the very old can be treated as successfully as in early old age.