ObjectiveTo investigate the use of traditional and new-type antidepressants in the in-patients with depressive disorder. MethodsThe antidepressant use of 165 in-patients with depressive disorders from March 1st to April 30th, 2013 were investigated. ResultsThe new-type antidepressants became the best drug in clinic, and single drug use was carried out mostly. The most used drug was atypical antipsychotics. ConclusionThe use of antidepressant drugs in the in-patients with depressive disorder in our hospital is regular and reasonable.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the efficacy of antidepressants in the prevention of poststroke depression (PSD). MethodsWe searched The Cochrane Library (Issue 2, 2015), PubMed, MEDLINE, EMbase, CNKI and VIP databases to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about antidepressants in preventing PSD from inception to April 2015. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. ResultsA total of 26 RCTs involving 2 190 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that:compared with the control group, the antidepressants group could significantly reduce the incidence of PSD (OR=0.24, 95%CI 0.17 to 0.36, P<0.000 01). Subgroup analysis based on types of drugs showed that:the selective serotonin reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) could significantly reduce the incidence of PSD (OR=0.23, 95%CI 0.15 to 0.37, P<0.000 01). Subgroup analysis based on length of time showed that antidepressants could decrease the incidence of PSD in short term (OR=0.11, 95%CI 0.06 to 0.19, P<0.000 01), middle term (OR=0.31, 95%CI 0.21 to 0.46, P<0.000 01) and long term (OR=0.30, 95%CI 0.19 to 0.49, P<0.000 01). In addition, there was no statistical difference in the incidence of adverse effect between the antidepressants group and the control group (P>0.05). ConclusionAntidepressants is effective in the prevention of PSD, and may not affect patient's life quality. Due to the limited quantity and quality of included studies, more high quality studies are needed to verify the above conclusion.
Objective To evaluate the cost effectiveness of four different mechanisms clinical commonly used antidepressants, namely, amitriptyline, escitalopram, mirtazapine and venlafaxine in the treatment of moderate-severe depressive disorder in China and to provide clinicians with some advice. Methods We carried out the cost-effectiveness analysis of four antidepressants by establishing a decision tree model. The parameters uncertainty in the model was estimated through one-way sensitivity analysis. Results In terms of average cost-effectiveness ratio (CER), amitriptyline’s was 45.24 RMB, which was the lowest. And the CERs of mirtazapine, escitalopram and venlafaxine were 273.71 RMB, 332.00 RMB and 716.58 RMB, respectively. While in terms of incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER), venlafaxine was excluded as the dominated strategy. When the threshold value of willingness to pay (WTP) was less than 3 420.92 RMB, amitriptyline was the most cost-effective; when the threshold value ranges between 3 420.92 RMB and 4 200 RMB, mirtazapine was the most cost-effective; and when the threshold value was over 4 200 RMB, escitalopram was the most cost-effective. In the one-way sensitivity analysis, when we changed the four kinds of drugs costs within a certain range, the results was not changed with the change of venlafaxine’s cost but changed with the other three drugs costs. Conclusion Clinicians may choose the most cost-effective therapy according to patients’ different WTP values. We suggests that health care institutions should encourage the use of escitalopram clinically and provide subsidies for patients so as to increase the overall society benefit.