HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY-OF-LIFE IN PATIENTS WITH MAJOR DEPRESSION WHO ARE TREATED WITH MOCLOBEMIDE

A total of 651 depressed patients completed self-administered health-r elated quality-of-life (HRQOL) questionnaires during treatment with mo clobemide in order to evaluate whether general and psychopathology-spe cific HRQOL questionnaires could detect changes in depressed patients receiving treatment. Patients were treated with moclobemide on an outp atient basis over an 8-week period; questionnaires were completed at w eeks 0, 2, 4, and 8. At each assessment, patients completed one of two HRQOL questionnaires: namely, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), a psychopathology-specific HRQOL questionnaire, or the Short-Form 36 (SF-36), a general HRQOL instrument. Physicians were randomized to one of the two HRQOL questionnaires for all of their patients. Because th e French version of the SF-36 was not available in the public domain, the patients of all Francophone physicians completed the GHQ, whereas the patients enrolled by Anglophone physicians completed either the SF -36 or the GHQ. The GHQ provides an overall score that measures the em otional dimensions of HRQOL, whereas the SF-36 provides scores in the following eight domains: physical functioning (PF), physical role func tioning (PRF), emotional role functioning (ERF), social functioning CS F), bodily pain (BP), mental health (MH), vitality (VT), and general h ealth perceptions (GHP). The GHQ and seven domains of the SF-36 detect ed a statistically significant linear trend (improvement) over time (p < 0.05). The change in the BP domain of the SF-36 was not statistical ly significant (p = 0.29). The greatest improvements from week 0 to we ek 8 occurred in the GHQ (41 to 45%) and the ERF (88 to 109%), SF (52 to 54%), MH (43 to 45%), and VT (27 to 39%) domains of the SF-36. A to tal of 190 patients (29%) did not complete all 8 weeks of the trial. H BQOL results for ''completers only'' and ''all patients'' did not diff er during the early portion of the study, with the exception of the PF and GHP domains of the SF-36, which differed slightly. However, resul ts for patients who dropped out were not available for the latter part of the 8-week period.