2-YEAR OUTCOME OF ELDERLY PATIENTS WITH ANXIOUS DEPRESSION

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there was a differe nce in the long-term outcome between elderly patients with anxious dep ression and those with non-anxious depression. Eighty-three patients w ith non-bipolar, non-psychotic major depression who had responded to t reatment of the index episode were maintained on full-dose antidepress ant medication and followed on a monthly basis over a period of 2 year s. Anxiety status at index assessment was not related to outcome as de fined by rates of relapse and recurrence or time to these events. Howe ver, the few patients who remained anxious at the point of remission o f the index episode had a significantly shorter time to relapse/recurr ence. These findings suggest that, once they achieve remission and are given adequate prophylactic treatment, most older patients with anxio us depression have a similar long-term outcome to patients without anx iety. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.