Present status of drug therapy of depression in late life

The increasing proportion of elderly to the general population and the relatively high prevalence rate of depression in this age group justifies concern for specific clinical indications for antidepressant selection. Of the numerous agents that possess antidepressant activity, some have a more narrow therapeutic window for the old (lithium), while others may be more efficacious for the old than traditional tricyclics (stimulants and monoamine oxidase inhibitors). Stimulants and monoamine oxidase inhibitors require close monitoring to obviate complications, and this limits their use in this population. Prescription of the more common reuptake inhibitors in this age group can be based on consideration of efficacy and especially predictable incidence of side effects. Efficacy of all the reuptake inhibitors is essentially equivalent over 4 weeks, if the patient can tolerate treatment. Antidepressants with many side effects are, thus, less efficacious if we consider only whether the patient will be better 4 weeks after we start treatment since drop outs must be considered treatment failures for that particular treatment. Side effects are more clearly different among the antidepressants with demonstrably fewer cardiac effects (i.e. ECG changes, orthostatic hypotension) for buproprion, mianserin, nomifensine, and trazodone in the geriatric group compared to older agents such as amitriptyline and imipramine. Further, anticholinergic effects in the periphery (dry mouth, constipation, blurred vision, and urinary hesitancy) and centrally (confusion, sedation, decreased memory recall) are substantially less with several of the newer antidepressants: buproprion, maprotiline, nomifensine and trazodone.