Can Atypical Antipsychotic Augmentation Reduce Subsequent Treatment Failure More Effectively Among Depressed Patients with a Higher Degree of Treatment Resistance? A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Update on the assessment of resistance to antidepressant treatment: Rationale for the Antidepressant Treatment History Form: Short Form-2 (ATHF-SF2)

All definitions of treatment-resistant depression (TRD) require that patients have experienced insufficient benefit from one or more adequate antidepressant trials. Thus, identifying "failed, adequate trials" is key to the assessment of TRD. The Antidepressant Treatment History Form (ATHF) was one of the first and most widely used instruments that provided objective criteria in making these assessments. The original ATHF was updated in 2018 to the ATHF-SF, changing to a checklist format for scoring, and including specific pharmacotherapy, brain stimulation, and psychotherapy interventions as potentially adequate antidepressant treatments. The ATHF-SF2, presented here, is based on the consensus of the ATHF workgroup about the novel interventions introduced since the last revision and which should/should not be considered effective treatments for major depressive episodes. This document describes the rationale for these choices and, for each intervention, the minimal criteria for determining the adequacy of treatment administration. The Supplementary Material that accompanies this article provide the Scoring Checklist, Data Collection Forms (current episode and composite of previous episodes), and Instruction Manual for the ATHF-SF2.

Psychedelic-Induced Serotonin 2A Receptor Downregulation Does Not Predict Swim Stress Coping in Mice

Serotoninergic psychedelics such as psilocybin have been reported to elicit a long-lasting reduction in depressive symptoms. Although the main target for serotoninergic psychedelics, serotonin type 2A receptor (5-HT_2A), has been established, the possible mechanism of the antidepressant action of psychedelics remains unknown. Using the mouse forced swim test model, we examined whether the administration of the synthetic serotoninergic psychedelic 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine (DOI) would modulate 5-HT_2A receptor levels in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and revert stress-induced changes in behavior. Mice subjected to swim stress developed a passive stress-coping strategy when tested in the forced swim test 6 days later. This change in behavior was not associated with the hypothesized increase in 5-HT_2A receptor-dependent head twitch behaviors or consistent changes in 5-HT_2A receptor levels in the mPFC. When DOI was administered 1 day before the forced swim test, a low dose (0.2 mg/kg i.p.) unexpectedly increased immobility while a high dose (2 mg/kg i.p.) had no significant effect on immobility. Nevertheless, DOI evoked a dose-dependent decrease in 5-HT_2A levels in the mPFC of mice previously exposed to swim stress. Our findings do not support the hypothesis that the downregulation of 5-HT_2A receptors in the mPFC contributes to the antidepressant-like properties of serotoninergic psychedelics.

Efficacy and acceptability of next step treatment strategies in adults with treatment-resistant major depressive disorder: protocol for systematic review and network meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION

For major depression, a one-size-fits-all treatment does not exist. Patients enter a 'trial-and-change' algorithm in which effective therapies are subsequently applied. Unfortunately, an empirically based order of treatments has not yet been determined. There is a magnitude of different treatment strategies while clinical trials only compare a small number of these. Network meta-analyses (NMA) might offer a solution, but so far have been limited in scope and did not account for possible differences in population characteristics that arise with increasing levels of treatment-resistance, potentially violating the transitivity assumption. We; therefore, present a protocol for a systematic review and NMA aiming at summarising and ranking treatments for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) while covering a broad range of therapeutic options and accounting for possible differences in population characteristics at increasing levels of treatment-resistance.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

Randomised controlled trials will be included that compared next-step pharmacological, neuromodulation or psychological treatments for treatment-resistant depression (TRD; ie, failure to respond to ≥1 adequate antidepressant drug trial(s) in the current episode) to each other or to a control condition. Primary outcomes will be the proportion of patients who responded to (efficacy) and dropped out of (acceptability) the allocated treatment. A random effects NMA will be conducted, synthesising the evidence for each outcome and determining the differential efficacy of treatments. Heterogeneity in treatment nodes will be reduced by considering alternative geometries of the network structure and by conducting a meta-regression examining different levels of TRD. Local and global methods will be applied to evaluate consistency. The Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 tool, Confidence in Network Meta-Analysis and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) framework will be used to assess risk of bias and certainty.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

This review does not require ethical approval.

The Choice of Either Quetiapine or Aripiprazole as Augmentation Treatment in a European Naturalistic Sample of Patients With Major Depressive Disorder

BACKGROUND

Augmentation with second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) represents an evidence-based psychopharmacotherapeutic strategy recommended in case of insufficient response to the first-line antidepressant (AD) treatment in major depressive disorder (MDD). Comparative evidence regarding efficacy and prescription preferences of the individual SGAs is scarce.

METHODS

In the scope of this European, multi-site, naturalistic cross-sectional investigation with retrospective assessment of treatment outcome, we compared sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of 187 MDD patients receiving either quetiapine (n = 150) or aripiprazole (n = 37) as augmentation of their first-line AD psychopharmacotherapy.

RESULTS

Comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder and diabetes were significantly associated with aripiprazole augmentation in our primary and post-hoc binary logistic regression analyses. Furthermore, we identified an association between aripiprazole co-administration and the presence of additional psychotic features, higher rates of AD combination treatment, and a longer duration of psychiatric hospitalizations during the lifetime, which, however, lost significance after correcting for multiple comparisons. Regarding treatment outcome, we found a trend of higher response rates and greater reductions in severity of depressive symptoms in MDD patients dispensed quetiapine.

CONCLUSIONS

Factors associated with a more chronic and severe profile of MDD seem to encourage clinicians to choose aripiprazole over quetiapine, that was, however, administered in the majority of our MDD patients, which might reflect the current approval situation allowing to prescribe exclusively quetiapine as on-label augmentation in MDD in Europe. Given the retrospective assessment of treatment response, the markedly smaller proportion of patients receiving aripiprazole augmentation generally showing an unfavorable disease profile, and the partially heterogeneous statistical robustness of our findings, further studies are required to elaborate on our observation and to generate unambiguous recommendations regarding the choice of first-line SGA augmentation in MDD.

Real-world data analysis of the clinical and economic burden and risk factors in patients with major depressive disorder with an inadequate response to initial antidepressants

AIM

We aimed to determine the incidence of and identify the factors associated with treatment-resistant depression (TRD), psychiatric conditions, hospitalization, and cost in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) who were treated using second-line strategies after an inadequate response to initial antidepressants (AD).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Using South Korean National Health Insurance claims data (1 January 2013 to 30 June 2018), we conducted a retrospective cohort analysis in newly treated patients with MDD who subsequently switched or added AD, or added atypical antipsychotics (AAPs) as a second-line treatment. We assessed the incidence of treatment-resistant depression (TRD), psychiatric conditions, and hospitalization for the first 2 years and costs in the third year. Odds ratios (ORs) or relative ratios were estimated using logistic and linear regression models to identify the risk factors for clinical and economic outcomes.

RESULTS

In 15,887 patients, the TRD was 16.81% during the 24-month follow-up period (14.14% in switching AD, 19.65% in adding AD, and 19.91% in adding AAP; p < 0.0001). When adding AD or AAP, the OR of TRD was 1.43 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.30-1.56) and 1.42 (95% CI: 1.23-1.65), respectively, compared to switching AD. However, these factors were not associated with the incidence of psychiatric conditions. Adding AAP increased hospitalization (OR = 1.25, 95% CI: 1.11-1.41), the number of inpatient days by 2.57-fold (95% CI: 1.75-3.76), and cost by 1.20-fold (95% CI: 1.02-1.40), compared to switching AD; adding AD did not show a significant association with these outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

In patients with MDD with inadequate responses to initial AD, TRD still occurred after subsequent treatments according to clinical guidelines. Since the effectiveness of second treatment strategies can differ in reality, further analysis of the clinical and economic evidence regarding second treatment strategies, such as adding AD or AAP, is needed using real-world data.

Predicting escitalopram monotherapy response in depression: The role of anterior cingulate cortex

Neuroimaging biomarkers of treatment efficacy can be used to guide personalized treatment in major depressive disorder (MDD). Escitalopram is recommended as first-line therapy for MDD and severe depression. An interesting hypothesis suggests that the reconfiguration of dynamic brain networks might provide important insights into antidepressant mechanisms. The present study assesses whether the spatiotemporal modulation across functional brain networks could serve as a predictor of effective antidepressant treatment with escitalopram. A total of 106 first-episode, drug-naïve patients and 109 healthy controls from three different multicenters underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Patients were considered as responders if they had a reduction of at least 50% in Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression scores at endpoint (>2 weeks). Multilayer modularity framework was applied on the whole brain to construct features in relation to network dynamic characters that were used for multivariate pattern analysis. Linear soft-threshold support vector machine models were used to separate responders from nonresponders. The permutation tests demonstrated the robustness of discrimination performances. The discriminative regions formed a spatially distributed pattern with anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) as the hub in the default mode subnetwork. Interestingly, a significantly larger module allegiance of ACC was also found in treatment responders compared to nonresponders, suggesting high interactivities of ACC to other regions may be beneficial for the recovery after treatment. Consistent results across multicenters confirmed that ACC could serve as a predictor of escitalopram monotherapy treatment outcome, implying strong likelihood of replication in the future.

Acute Angle-closure Glaucoma Associated With Aripiprazole in the Setting of Plateau Iris Configuration

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study was to report a novel case of drug-induced angle-closure from aripiprazole (Abilify), an atypical antipsychotic, and propose a mechanism for this association.

METHODS/RESULTS

We report a case of a 45-year-old white woman who presented in subacute angle closure 2 months after initiating aripiprazole 5 mg daily for depression. This patient reported no prior ocular history and had been on longstanding duloxetine (Cymbalta) 60 mg daily for over 10 years before starting aripiprazole. Examination at initial presentation revealed an intraocular pressure (IOP) of 16 mm Hg in the right eye and an elevated IOP of 44 mm Hg in the left eye. Gonioscopy demonstrated a plateau iris configuration in the right eye and angle closure with a plateau iris configuration in the left eye. She was started on IOP-lowering therapy and underwent a laser peripheral iridotomy. Despite recommendation to discontinue aripiprazole, duloxetine was discontinued; aripiprazole was maintained and later increased to 10 mg daily for worsening depression. Three months after the dosage increase, the patient was found to have an elevated IOP of 32 mm Hg and angle-closure with a plateau iris configuration in the left eye. Iridoplasty was performed in the left eye with subsequent opening of the angle and improvement in IOP. The second attack of angle-closure led to the discontinuation of aripiprazole and a corresponding widening of the angles in both eyes 1 week after cessation.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first report to describe drug-induced angle-closure glaucoma associated with aripiprazole use. The mechanism of angle closure, we hypothesize, is from mydriasis and/or supraciliary effusion mediated by the serotoninergic effect on the iris and ciliary body complex. Treatment is preferably cessation of the medication. However, in cases where the medication is necessary for management of major depression, iridoplasty should be performed to reduce the risk of angle closure.

Multi-trajectories of antidepressant and antipsychotic use: a 11-year naturalistic study in a community-based sample

OBJECTIVE

To explore the temporal dynamic of antidepressant and antipsychotic co-prescribing in real-life conditions.

METHODS

The study was performed using reimbursement data from the French Insurance Healthcare system in a cohort of 118 454 persons with at least one dispensing of antidepressants and/or antipsychotics over the period 2006-2016. Latent class analyses were used to identify homogeneous groups of persons following similar multi-trajectories of antidepressant and/or antipsychotic dispensing. Multivariate polynomial logistic regression models were used to explore the characteristics independently associated with distinct trajectories.

RESULTS

Five multi-trajectories of antidepressant and/or antipsychotic dispensing were identified: more than half of the sample (58%) had very low antidepressant and antipsychotic use; two groups had chronic (12%) or decreasing (11%) antidepressant use with very low antipsychotic use; two groups used both antidepressants and antipsychotics simultaneously either in an increasing (12%) or chronic (7%) way. Persons with chronic antidepressant-antipsychotic use presented with markers of poor social and mental health conditions.

CONCLUSIONS

Most persons using antipsychotics over the follow-up also used antidepressants over the same period. The benefit/risk ratio of these prescribing practices should be further explored as the long-term efficacy of antidepressant-antipsychotic polypharmacy is poorly documented, while this combination increases the risk of adverse effects.

The assessment of resistance to antidepressant treatment: Rationale for the Antidepressant Treatment History Form: Short Form (ATHF-SF)

There is considerable diversity in how treatment-resistant depression (TRD) is defined. However, every definition incorporates the concept that patients with TRD have not benefited sufficiently from one or more adequate trials of antidepressant treatment. This review examines the issues fundamental to the systematic evaluation of antidepressant treatment adequacy and resistance. These issues include the domains of interventions deemed effective in treatment of major depressive episodes (e.g., pharmacotherapy, brain stimulation, and psychotherapy), the subgroups of patients for whom distinct adequacy criteria are needed (e.g., bipolar vs. unipolar depression, psychotic vs. nonpsychotic depression), whether trials should be rated dichotomously as adequate or inadequate or on a potency continuum, whether combination and augmentation strategies require specific consideration, and the criteria used to evaluate the adequacy of treatment delivery (e.g., dose, duration), trial adherence, and clinical outcome. This review also presents the Antidepressant Treatment History Form: Short-Form (ATHF-SF), a completely revised version of an earlier instrument, and details how these fundamental issues were addressed in the ATHF-SF.

Diminished responses to monoaminergic antidepressants but not ketamine in a mouse model for neuropsychiatric lupus

BACKGROUND

A significant proportion of patients suffering from major depression fail to remit following treatment and develop treatment-resistant depression. Developing novel treatments requires animal models with good predictive validity. MRL/lpr mice, an established model of systemic lupus erythematosus, show depression-like behavior.

AIMS

We evaluated responses to classical antidepressants, and associated immunological and biochemical changes in MRL/lpr mice.

METHODS AND RESULTS

MRL/lpr mice showed increased immobility in the forced swim test, decreased wheel running and sucrose preference when compared with the controls, MRL/MpJ mice. In MRL/lpr mice, acute fluoxetine (30 mg/kg, intraperitoneally (i.p.)), imipramine (10 mg/kg, i.p.) or duloxetine (10 mg/kg, i.p.) did not decrease the immobility time in the Forced Swim Test. Interestingly, acute administration of combinations of olanzapine (0.03 mg/kg, subcutaneously)+fluoxetine (30 mg/kg, i.p.) or bupropion (10 mg/kg, i.p.)+fluoxetine (30 mg/kg, i.p.) retained efficacy. A single dose of ketamine but not three weeks of imipramine (10 mg/kg, i.p.) or escitalopram (5 mg/kg, i.p.) treatment in MRL/lpr mice restored sucrose preference. Further, we evaluated inflammatory, immune-mediated and neuronal mechanisms. In MRL/lpr mice, there was an increase in autoantibodies' titers, [3H]PK11195 binding and immune complex deposition. There was a significant infiltration of the brain by macrophages, neutrophils and T-lymphocytes. p11 mRNA expression was decreased in the prefrontal cortex. Further, there was an increase in the 5-HT_2aR expression, plasma corticosterone and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase activity.

CONCLUSION

In summary, the MRL/lpr mice could be a useful model for Treatment Resistant Depression associated with immune dysfunction with potential to expedite antidepressant drug discovery.

Rapastinel - an investigational NMDA-R modulator for major depressive disorder: evidence to date

INTRODUCTION

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a debilitating disorder with increasing prevalence globally. Despite the development of novel treatments for MDD, many patients present with treatment resistant depression (TRD), identified by treatment non-response following one or more adequate trials of an antidepressant. Rapastinel may prove to be a viable treatment for TRD; it has the potential to produce a rapid antidepressant response without serious adverse events and improve functional symptoms. Areas covered: We review the efficacy of rapastinel via completed and on-going clinical trials. The online databases Pubmed, clinicaltrials.gov and clinicaltrialsregister.eu were searched for rapastinel (GLYX-13) treatment in subjects with MDD. Nine clinical trials were identified. Expert opinion: Rapastinel is a novel and potentially transformative treatment for individuals with TRD. There is a limited number of clinical studies so far, but this compound has the potential to provide rapid, reliable and robust antidepressant effects without psychotomimetic and other unwanted side effects. Alternative formulations such as the oral formulation, provide the opportunity for rapastinel to be administered less frequently, i.e. once weekly. Furthermore, the beneficial effects on measures of cognition and suicidality so far, represent a tremendous advantage.

Earlier Versus Later Augmentation with an Antipsychotic Medication in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder Demonstrating Inadequate Efficacy in Response to Antidepressants: A Retrospective Analysis of US Claims Data

Introduction

There is little evidence regarding the most effective timing of augmentation of antidepressants (AD) with antipsychotics (AP) in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) who inadequately respond to first-line AD (inadequate responders). The study’s objective was to understand the association between timing of augmentation of AD with AP and overall healthcare costs in inadequate responders.

Methods

Using the Truven Health MarketScan^® Medicaid, Commercial, and Medicare Supplemental databases (7/1/09–12/31/16), we identified adult inadequate responders if they had one of the following indicating incomplete response to initial AD: psychiatric hospitalization or emergency department (ED) visit, initiating psychotherapy, or switching to or adding on a different AD. Two mutually exclusive cohorts were identified on the basis of time from first qualifying event date to first date of augmentation with an AP (index date): 0–6 months (early add-on) and 7–12 months (late add-on). Patients were further required to be continuously enrolled 1 year before (baseline) and 1 year after (follow-up) index date. Patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder diagnoses were excluded. General linear regression was used to estimate adjusted healthcare costs in the early versus late add-on cohort, controlling for baseline demographic and clinical characteristics, insurance type, medications, and ED visits or hospitalizations.

Results

Of the 6935 identified inadequate responders, 68.7% started an AP early and 31.3% late. At baseline, before AP augmentation, patients in the early add-on cohort had higher psychiatric comorbid disease burden (47.3% vs. 42.5%; p < 0.001) and higher inpatient utilization [mean (SD) 0.41 (0.72) vs. 0.27 (0.67); p < 0.001] than in late add-on cohort. During follow-up, the adjusted total all-cause healthcare cost was significantly lower in the early vs. late add-on cohort ($18,864 vs. $20,452; p = 0.046).

Conclusion

Findings of this real-world study suggest that, in patients with MDD who inadequately responded to first-line AD treatment, adding an AP earlier reduces overall healthcare costs.

Funding

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development and Commercialization, Inc. and Lundbeck.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1007/s12325-018-0838-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Korean Medication Algorithm for Depressive Disorder: Comparisons with Other Treatment Guidelines

In this review, we compared recommendations from the Korean Medication Algorithm Project for Depressive Disorder 2017 (KMAP-DD 2017) to other global treatment guidelines for depression. Six global treatment guidelines were reviewed; among the six, 4 were evidence-based guidelines, 1 was an expert consensus-based guideline, and 1 was an amalgamation of both evidence and expert consensus-based recommendations. The recommendations in the KMAP-DD 2017 were generally similar to those in other global treatment guidelines, although there were some differences between the guidelines. The KMAP-DD 2017 appeared to reflect current changes in the psychopharmacology of depression quite well, like other recently published evidence-based guidelines. As an expert consensus-based guideline, the KMAP-DD 2017 had some limitations. However, considering there are situations in which clinical evidence cannot be drawn from planned clinical trials, the KMAP-DD 2017 may be helpful for Korean psychiatrists making decisions in the clinical settings by complementing previously published evidence-based guidelines.

Evidence-based pharmacotherapy of treatment-resistant unipolar depression

Treatment resistance to the antidepressive pharmacotherapy represents one of the most important clinical challenges in the pharmacological management of unipolar depression. In this review, we aimed to summarise the evidence for various pharmacological treatment options in therapy-resistant unipolar depression derived from clinical trials, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and treatment guidelines. The first measure in case of insufficient response to the initial antidepressant monotherapy contains the debarment of 'pseudo-resistance', potentially caused by inadequate dose and treatment duration of the antidepressant, insufficient plasma levels, non-compliance of the patient regarding medication intake or relevant psychiatric and/or somatic comorbidities. Applying a dose escalation of the current antidepressant cannot be generally recommended as evidence-based treatment option and the efficacy depends on the class of antidepressants. There is no compelling evidence for a switch to another, new antidepressant compound after insufficient response to a previous antidepressant. The combination of two antidepressants should be preferentially established with antidepressants characterised by different mechanisms of action (e.g. reuptake inhibitors together with presynaptic autoreceptor inhibitors). At present, the most convincing body of evidence exists for the augmentation of antidepressants with second-generation antipsychotic drugs and lithium. Hence, both strategies are consistently advised by treatment guidelines as pharmacological first-line strategy in treatment-resistant depression.

Impact of Prior Treatment on Remission of Late-Life Depression with Venlafaxine and Subsequent Aripiprazole or Placebo Augmentation

OBJECTIVE

Treatment history can inform clinical decisions about subsequent treatment choices. The authors examined the impact of prior antidepressant treatment on treatment outcomes with venlafaxine only and then with augmentation with aripiprazole or placebo in depressed older adults.

METHODS

The authors analyzed outcome data from a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of aripiprazole augmentation in depressed older adults. The study consisted of an open-label lead-in phase with venlafaxine XR, followed by a placebo-controlled phase of aripiprazole augmentation. Treatment history was assessed with the Antidepressant Treatment History Form.

RESULTS

Documented prior treatment failure predicted a reduced remission rate with venlafaxine. However, aripiprazole augmentation was efficacious in those with prior treatment failure (42.6% remission with aripiprazole versus 25.8% with placebo; χ(2) = 3.87 df = 1, p = 0.049).

CONCLUSION

Aripiprazole augmentation is an efficacious strategy in older depressed adults who fail to remit with two or more adequate antidepressant trials, including a course of venlafaxine.

Second Generation Antipsychotics in the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder: An Update

Less than one third of patients who suffer from major depressive disorder (MDD) report remission following antidepressant treatments requiring more diverse treatment approaches. Augmentation of second generation antipsychotics (SGAs) has been increasingly recognized as an important treatment option. The authors have previously provided a comprehensive review of SGAs for the treatment of MDD in 2013. Since then, numerous additional clinical trials have been conducted to investigate diverse issues regarding the utility of SGAs in MDD. Moreover, a new SGA, brexpiprazole, was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration in July 2015 for the treatment of MDD as an augmentation agent to antidepressants. Thus, the aim of this study was to provide a concise update of all the available SGAs for the treatment of MDD, in particular on the additional clinical trials which have been published since 2013.