Depressed Jane

Because clinical depression is so disabling and affects more than 16 percent of adults in the United States at some time in their lives, researchers have worked hard to develop more effective treatments. But how much better are the newer pharmaceuticals? Many second-generation antidepressants, despite differences in drug classification and cost, offer patients essentially the same benefits with little variation in risks, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers have found… click link for more info.

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Downward mobility hits men far harder than women, quadrupling their risk of depression, finds research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. The findings are based on survey responses from 503 men and women taking part in the Newcastle Thousand Families Study, all of whom were born in May and June 1947 to mothers living in Newcastle upon Tyne, north east England… click link for more info.

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Patients who experience symptoms, such as sleepiness, fatigue, poor motivation, irritability, and difficulty concentrating, are often diagnosed with depression and are treated with antidepressants. A new study suggests that many of these patients have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and their symptoms may be reduced with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy… click link for more info.

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Psychiatrists at Rush University Medical Center are the first in Chicago to use a vagus nerve stimulator (VNS), an implantable, pacemaker-like device, as a therapy to treat long-term, treatment-resistant depression (TRD) in adults. Dr. John Zajecka led the VNS therapy clinical trial at Rush. The procedure to place the device, which is usually performed under general anesthesia on an outpatient basis, takes about an hour… click link for more info.

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New research suggests that depression may hasten the progression of heart disease by increasing the levels of a key protein that causes inflammation. In a study of 32 people with heart failure, the 14 patients who felt the most depressed had nearly twice the levels of this protein in their blood… click link for more info.

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Although selective serotonin (5-HT) reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) benefit many patients, some patients are nonresponders. This week, Cervo et al. explored a possible genetic cause for SSRI responsiveness. The SSRI citalopram reduced immobility time in C57BL/6J and 129/Sv mice but had no effect in DBA/2J or BALB/c mice, suggesting that genetic differences in serotonin synthesis could contribute to the efficacy of SSRIs… click link for more info.

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Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy, a treatment recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment-resistant depression, produced a positive response in more than 25 percent of patients in a national, yearlong study led by UT Southwestern Medical Center psychiatrists. Sixteen percent to 20 percent of the study group experienced total remission… click link for more info.

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Adult patients taking the antidepressant drug paroxetine are at higher risk of attempting to commit suicide than those not taking medication. A new analysis, published in BMC Medicine, of previous clinical data on paroxetine use adds the antidepressant to the list of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) that have been shown to increase suicidal tendencies in adult patients with depression… click link for more info.

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A national study will demonstrate how Australian employers can save up to $1 Billion lost every year by assisting employees with untreated depression. Depression is the leading cause of disability in Australia with one in five Australians suffering a major depression episode during their life time spelling a miserable time for a large group of people… click link for more info.

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A UCLA imaging study revealed significant tissue loss in the regions of heart-failure patients’ brains that regulate the autonomic nervous system, interfering with the cardiovascular system’s ability to swiftly adapt to changes in blood pressure and heart rate. The damage lies in the same brain areas showing changes in people suffering major depression, which may explain why many heart-failure patients are often depressed… click link for more info.

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