One year clinical and psychosocial outcomes of early-onset chronic depression

Background: Results from short-term treatment studies have demonstrated the efficacy of antidepressant medications for outpatients with early-onset ch ronic depression. However, scant data exists regarding the long-term outcom e of these patients treated for this disorder. Methods: The author conducte d a one-year naturalistic follow-up study of 50 outpatients with early-onse t, chronic depression, who were treated in a university-based psychopharmac ology research clinic. Assessments were conducted blind to the patients' hi stories. Results: Forty-eight percent of the total sample reported 9-12 mon ths of sustained euthymia (Months Well). Among the patients who recovered, 50% relapsed. Limitations: The major limitations of this study were its sma ll sample size and lack of a comparison group. Conclusions: These results d ata demonstrate that despite initial response, many outpatients with chroni c depression seem to relapse after leaving university-based psychopharmacol ogy centers. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.