Impact of Demographic Factors on the Treatment Response of Antidepressant Therapy: A Descriptive Cohort Study from...

The study is conducted in Pakistan to evaluate the impact of socio-demographic factors that might influence the treatment response to antidepressants in depressive disorder. Moreover, this study brings data from a South Asian developing country, to compete the existing literature gap, where the response to antidepressant treatment with respect to demographic factors is mostly from the western countries.

A prospective, open-label, descriptive cohort study is designed to signify the association of demographic factors on the treatment response of antidepressants.

The patients presented to outpatient department (OPD) of Psychiatry clinic at Pakistan Railway Hospital, Rawalpindi from October 05, 2022 to July 31, 2023 were included in the study. All the patients were diagnosed by a Consultant Psychiatrist, according to ICD-11 and were prescribed an antidepressant therapy. The demographic factors were divided into sub-categories i.e. age, gender, marital status, income status, geographical location, education, and comorbid conditions. The change in depressive scores were measured by Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) on day 0, and 28. The data was analyzed using SPSS and results are reported in the subsequent section.

Out of 88 patients, depression was found most widespread among females, married individuals, illiterate, above 41 years of age with comorbid conditions. The response to treatment was better in males (49.84%), single individuals (49.24%), educated (43.70%), and senior citizens (46.19%) in terms of percentage improvement.

It was concluded that the response to treatment was different among different subcategories in terms of percentage improvement. Female, illiterate, and single/divorced/widowed populations showed poor response to treatment. Moreover, geriatric population response was better as compared to all other age group. The patients having different comorbid conditions are more prone to develop depression, but the response to antidepressant therapy was comparable to those without any systemic illness.