TY - JOUR
T1 - Combining Medications to Enhance Depression Outcomes (CO-MED)
T2 - Acute and long-term outcomes of a single-blind randomized study
AU - Rush, A. John
AU - Trivedi, Madhukar H.
AU - Stewart, Jonathan W.
AU - Nierenberg, Andrew A.
AU - Fava, Maurizio
AU - Kurian, Benji T.
AU - Warden, Diane
AU - Morris, David W.
AU - Luther, James F.
AU - Husain, Mustafa M.
AU - Cook, Ian A.
AU - Shelton, Richard C.
AU - Lesser, Ira M.
AU - Kornstein, Susan G.
AU - Wisniewski, Stephen R.
PY - 2011/7
Y1 - 2011/7
N2 - Objective: Two antidepressant medication combinations were compared with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor monotherapy to determine whether either combination produced a higher remission rate in first-step acute-phase (12 weeks) and long-term (7 months) treatment. Method: The single-blind, prospective, randomized trial enrolled 665 outpatients at six primary and nine psychiatric care sites. Participants had at least moderately severe nonpsychotic chronic and/or recurrent major depressive disorder. Escitalopram (up to 20 mg/day) plus placebo, sustained-release bupropion (up to 400 mg/day) plus escitalopram (up to 20 mg/day), or extended-release venlafaxine (up to 300 mg/day) plus mirtazapine (up to 45 mg/day) was delivered (1:1:1 ratio) by using measurement-based care. The primary outcome was remission, defined as ratings of less than 8 and less than 6 on the last two consecutive applications of the 16-item Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology - Self-Report. Secondary outcomes included side effect burden, adverse events, quality of life, functioning, and attrition. Results: Remission and response rates and most secondary outcomes were not different among treatment groups at 12 weeks. The remission rates were 38.8% for escitalopram-placebo, 38.9% for bupropion-escitalopram, and 37.7% for venlafaxine-mirtazapine, and the response rates were 51.6%-52.4%. The mean number of worsening adverse events was higher for venlafaxine-mirtazapine (5.7) than for escitalopram-placebo (4.7). At 7 months, remission rates (41.8%-46.6%), response rates (57.4%-59.4%), and most secondary outcomes were not significantly different. Conclusions: Neither medication combination outperformed monotherapy. The combination of extended-release venlafaxine plus mirtazapine may have a greater risk of adverse events.
AB - Objective: Two antidepressant medication combinations were compared with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor monotherapy to determine whether either combination produced a higher remission rate in first-step acute-phase (12 weeks) and long-term (7 months) treatment. Method: The single-blind, prospective, randomized trial enrolled 665 outpatients at six primary and nine psychiatric care sites. Participants had at least moderately severe nonpsychotic chronic and/or recurrent major depressive disorder. Escitalopram (up to 20 mg/day) plus placebo, sustained-release bupropion (up to 400 mg/day) plus escitalopram (up to 20 mg/day), or extended-release venlafaxine (up to 300 mg/day) plus mirtazapine (up to 45 mg/day) was delivered (1:1:1 ratio) by using measurement-based care. The primary outcome was remission, defined as ratings of less than 8 and less than 6 on the last two consecutive applications of the 16-item Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology - Self-Report. Secondary outcomes included side effect burden, adverse events, quality of life, functioning, and attrition. Results: Remission and response rates and most secondary outcomes were not different among treatment groups at 12 weeks. The remission rates were 38.8% for escitalopram-placebo, 38.9% for bupropion-escitalopram, and 37.7% for venlafaxine-mirtazapine, and the response rates were 51.6%-52.4%. The mean number of worsening adverse events was higher for venlafaxine-mirtazapine (5.7) than for escitalopram-placebo (4.7). At 7 months, remission rates (41.8%-46.6%), response rates (57.4%-59.4%), and most secondary outcomes were not significantly different. Conclusions: Neither medication combination outperformed monotherapy. The combination of extended-release venlafaxine plus mirtazapine may have a greater risk of adverse events.
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U2 - 10.1176/appi.ajp.2011.10111645
DO - 10.1176/appi.ajp.2011.10111645
M3 - Article
C2 - 21536692
AN - SCOPUS:79960533628
SN - 0002-953X
VL - 168
SP - 689
EP - 701
JO - American Journal of Psychiatry
JF - American Journal of Psychiatry
IS - 7
ER -