Improved health-related quality of life with SSRIs and other antidepressants

Study Objective. To document the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of depressed patients receiving antidepressant drugs. Design. Cross-sectional study. Setting. Community pharmacy-based setting. Patients. Fifty-seven depressed patients. Intervention. Independent pharmacist members of the Community Pharmacists R esearch Network in Georgia administered the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) to subjects. Measurements and Main Results. Sixty-one percent of patients were treated w ith a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and 38.6% were treated with a non-SSRI. Those receiving SSRIs scored higher on the mean physical ( PCS) and mental (MCS) health summary scores of the SF-36 than those not rec eiving the drugs. No significant differences were seen in PCS or MCS scores of men and women. Conclusion. Community pharmacists documented better HRQOL in patients recei ving SSRIs than in those given other antidepressants.