Abstract
The purpose of this work was to study the prevalence of somatic symptoms in patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and their impact on the response to antidepressant treatment. Somatic symptoms were assessed during the screen visit with the Symptom Questionnaire (SQ) somatic symptom (SQ-SS) and somatic well-being sub-scales (SQ-SWB) in 40 patients with TRD enrolled in a 6-week open trial of nortriptyline. A logistic regression was used to test whether SQ-SS or SQ-SWB scores predicted clinical response to nortriptyline. Ninety-five percent of patients reported at least one somatic symptom. Higher SQ-SS scores during the screen visit predicted poorer response to nortriptyline. There was a trend for lower SQ-SWB scores to predict poor response to nortriptyline. None of the patients with SQ-SS scores above the mean for the sample responded to nortriptyline. The overwhelming majority of patients with TRD presented with somatic symptoms. In addition, a greater number of somatic symptoms during the screen visit placed patients at risk for further treatment resistance.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 39-45 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Psychiatry Research |
Volume | 118 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 1 2003 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Antidepressants
- Nortriptyline
- Response prediction
- Symptom Questionnaire
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Biological Psychiatry