[Impact of pharmaceutical intervention in preventing relapses in depression in Primary Care]

To evaluate the long-term impact of a brief pharmacist intervention (PI) compared with usual care (UC) on prevention of depression relapse.

randomised controlled clinical trial

Primary Care

Of the 179 depressed patients initiating antidepressants, the 113 whose clinical symptoms had remitted (main definition) at 6 months assessment were selected for this secondary study (PI=58; UC=55).

PI was an interview to promote medication adherence when patients get antidepressants from pharmacy.

Baseline, 3 months, and six-months follow-up assessments were made. The severity of depressive symptoms was evaluated with PHQ9. Patients presenting a remission of symptoms were selected. The patient medical records were reviewed to identify a relapse in the following 12 months by using 4 indicators.

There was a lower proportion of patients that relapsed in the PI group than in the UC group 18 months after initiation of treatment, but the difference was not statistically significant either in the intent-to-treat analysis (OR=0.734 [95%CI; 0.273-1.975]) or the per-protocol analysis (OR=0.615 [95%CI; 0.183 -2.060]). All the sensitivity analyses showed consistent results. The sample size and adherence to the protocol in the intervention group were low.

PI group showed a non-statistically significant tendency towards presenting fewer relapses. This could be related to the improvement in adherence among patients that received the intervention.