MINOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER AND SUBSYNDROMAL DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS - FUNCTIONAL IMPAIRMENT AND RESPONSE TO TREATMENT

Background: This study quantifies functional impairment and depressive symptomatology in patients with minor depressive disorder (MinD) and subsyndromal depressive symptomatology (SSD) before and after 8 weeks of treatment with fluvoxamine. Study patients were compared and contra sted with archival data from a sample of the general population measur ed by the Medical Outcome Survey Short Form 36. Method: Fifteen patien ts with MinD and 15 patients with SSD were identified from primary car e clinics, referrals and newspaper advertisements. Patients signed inf ormed consent and were offered open label treatment with fluvoxamine 2 5-100 mg/day. Patients were seen biweekly and measures of functional i mpairment and depressive symptomatology were gathered systematically. Results: MinD and SSD were associated with dysfunction and disability when compared to archival normative data from the general population. Eight week treatment with fluvoxamine was associated with a substantia l decrease in depressive symptomatology and a normalization of psychos ocial functioning. Conclusion: This is the first study to quantify fun ctional impairment and the severity of depressive symptomatology in a clinical sample of patients with MinD and SSD, and to demonstrate that treatment with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor decreases dep ressive symptomatology and improves psychosocial functioning. Placebo- controlled double-blind confirmation of these preliminary observations seems warranted. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.