Major Depression With Comorbid Anxiety Symptoms Clinical Trial
Official title:
A Double Blind, Randomized Placebo Controlled Study of the Efficacy, Safety and Tolerability of Immediate-Release Formulation of Quetiapine Fumarate as Potentiation of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, and Serotonin Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors Treatment in Major Depression With Comorbid Anxiety Symptoms
Major depression occurs with generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder in up to 60% of
psychiatric and primary care patients.(1) An estimated 85% of adults with depression
experience significant symptoms of anxiety and 58% have a diagnosable anxiety disorder
during their lifetime.(2) Numerous studies have shown that symptoms of anxiety are frequent
in patients with major depressive disorder, and the presence of anxiety symptoms is
associated with a more severe and chronic course.(3,4) This comorbidity has been associated
with a greater severity of depression, poorer psychosocial functioning, poorer treatment
response and higher risk for suicide.
The data suggests that novel antipsychotics have antidepressant and anxiolytic effects. This
study will explore the impact of this effect in patients with major depression and comorbid
anxiety symptoms.
This study offers the possibility of systematically reviewing the role of quetiapine in
depression with anxiety. If the combination of an SSRI or SNRI and quetiapine proves to
effective it could offer a viable alternative to widespread benzodiazepine use.
This is a double blind study where patients will be involved and be under treatment for a period of 8 weeks. The initial evaluation will include rating scales measuring depression, anxiety, severity of illness, overall functioning, pregnancy test and clinical evaluations. Patients being treated with a SSRI or SNRI for at least 6 weeks, at therapeutic doses (see table 1.), who still have a HAM-D score of 18 or more, will be randomly assigned to treatment, either with Quetiapine, or Placebo. Patients in the active group will be titrated on a fixed schedule of 50 mg at night for 7 days, 100 mg at night for 7 days, then 200 mg at night for 7 days. After this the dose will be titrated upwards to a maximum of 600mg at night at the discretion of the investigator, using patient tolerance and response as guidelines over the duration of the trial. 200mg is in the range of the average dose in large trials of naturalistic clinical use of quetiapine and is actually much slower than the titration schedule on the package label. Patients that can not tolerate 200mg/day will be withdrawn from the study. Patients should have tried a minimum of 400mg /day before being withdrawn because of lack of efficacy. This dose will remain steady until week 8. Rating scales will be repeated every week during the first 2 weeks, and every 2 weeks up to the end of the study at week 8. ;
Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Safety/Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Double-Blind, Primary Purpose: Treatment