M. Spillmann et al., SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC PREDICTORS OF RESPONSE TO ANTIDEPRESSANT TREATMENT, International journal of psychiatry in medicine, 27(2), 1997, pp. 129-136
Objective: Our goal was to assess whether sociodemographic variables s
uch as gender, marital status, level of education, and employment stat
us are related to the changes in social functioning that have been rep
orted after drug treatment in outpatients with major depressive disord
er. Method: Eligible subjects were 166 depressed outpatients participa
ting in a study involving open treatment with fluoxetine 20 mg/day for
eight weeks. Diagnosis of major depressive disorder was made with the
use of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R-Patient Editio
n (SCID-P), and patients were required to have a seventeen-item Hamilt
on Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D-17) score greater than or equal
to 16 at study entry. All subjects were administered the HAM-D-17 and
the Social Adjustment Scale-Self-Report (SAS-SR) before and after trea
tment with fluoxetine. Results: We found that SAS-SR scores decreased
significantly following treatment with fluoxetine from a mean score at
baseline of 2.6 +/- 0.7 to a mean score at endpoint of 2.3 +/- 0.6. A
fter adjusting for the degree of change in HAM-D-17 scores, we found a
significant relationship between degree of change in SAS-SR and level
of education. No statistically significant relationships were observe
d between SAS-SR change and age, gender, marital status, and employmen
t status. Conclusion: The degree of improvement in psychosocial functi
oning observed in depressed outpatients following antidepressant treat
ment appears to be related to the level of education at study entry, b
ut not to other sociodemographic variables. Further studies need to in
vestigate the nature of this relationship.