SCREENING AND TREATING DEPRESSED-PATIENTS - A COMPARISON OF 2 CONTROLLED CITALOPRAM TRIALS ACROSS TREATMENT SETTINGS - HOSPITALIZED-PATIENTS VS PATIENTS TREATED BY THEIR FAMILY DOCTORS

This study is a comparison across treatment settings of two previously published trials, namely the Danish University Antidepressant Group ( DUAG) study on citalopram vs. clomipramine in hospitalized patients wi th major depression, and the Nordic citalopram vs, imipramine study of depressed patients treated by their family doctors. The Hamilton Depr ession Scale (HAM-D) had the sams revel of inter-rater reliability and construct validity in the two Settings. Using a HAM-D score of 7 or l ess as the criterion for full remission, clomipramine was superior to imipramine and citalopram. Using a reduction of the baseline HAM-D sco re by 50% or more as a response criterion, there were no differences b etween the three antidepressants after 5 or 6 weeks of treatment, Cita lopram showed superior tolerability to the tricyclic antidepressants.