Mh. Rapaport et Ll. Judd, MINOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER AND SUBSYNDROMAL DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS - FUNCTIONAL IMPAIRMENT AND RESPONSE TO TREATMENT, Journal of affective disorders, 48(2-3), 1998, pp. 227-232
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.