A DOUBLE-BLIND DOUBLE-DUMMY STUDY OF CITALOPRAM COMPARING INFUSION VERSUS ORAL-ADMINISTRATION

Background: This study compares antidepressant efficacy and tolerabili ty of citalopram given either orally or as a slow drop infusion. Metho ds: Citalopram (40 mg/day) was administered double-blindly as tablets or slow-drop infusion during the first 10 days and then open, orally, up to treatment Day 42. Results: In 60 moderately to severely depresse d patients, the Hamilton depression total score (17-items) at baseline was 23.9 and 23.6 in the active infusion (n = 30) and active tablet ( n = 30) group, respectively. These scores dropped in both groups to 15 .6 and 16.9 on Day 10, and to 10.3 and 10.2 on Day 42. Response rates (Delta Hamilton greater than or equal to 50%) amounted to 33.3% and 17 .9% on Day 10, and 66.2% and 63.3% on Day 42, without a relevant group difference in citalopram plasma concentration. Conclusion: Slow-drop infusion with citalopram shows a similar risk/benefit relationship to oral citalopram. The design of this study allowed us to evaluate pharm acological but not psychological factors which may contribute to respo nse to slow-drop infusion. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.