Optimal Dose of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, Venlafaxine, and Mirtazapine in Major Depression: A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis

The efficacy and cerebral mechanism of intradermal acupuncture for major depressive disorder: a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background

Major depressive disorder (MDD) has emerged as the fifth leading cause of years lived with disability, with a high prevalent, affecting nearly 4% of the global population. While available evidence suggests that intradermal acupuncture may enhance the effectiveness of antidepressants, whether its efficacy is a specific therapeutic effect or a placebo effect has not been reported. Moreover, the cerebral mechanism of intradermal acupuncture as a superficial acupuncture (usually subcutaneous needling to a depth of 1-2 mm) for MDD remains unclear.

Methods

A total of 120 participants with MDD will be enrolled and randomized to the waiting list group, sham intradermal acupuncture group and active intradermal acupuncture group. All 3 groups will receive a 6-week intervention and a 4-week follow-up. The primary outcome will be measured by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17 and the secondary outcome measures will be the Self-Rating depression scale and Pittsburgh sleep quality index. Assessments will be conducted at baseline, 3 weeks, 6 weeks, and during the follow-up period. In addition, 20 eligible participants in each group will be randomly selected to undergo head magnetic resonance imaging before and after the intervention to explore the effects of intradermal acupuncture on brain activity in MDD patients.

Discussion

If the intradermal acupuncture is beneficial, it is promising to be included in the routine treatment of MDD.

Clinical Trial Registration

Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT05720637.

Baseline platelet serotonin in a multi-site treatment study of depression in veterans administration patients: Distribution and effects of demographic variables and serotonin reuptake inhibitors

BACKGROUND

The objectives of the study were: (1) to examine the overall distribution of baseline platelet serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) values in patients seeking treatment for depression and to define subgroups based on the apparent presence or absence of drug exposure; (2) to assess the bioeffect of 5-HT reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) at the platelet 5-HT transporter; and (3) to examine the relationships of demographic variables including population (ancestry), sex, age, and season of sampling to platelet 5-HT concentration.

METHODS

Platelet 5-HT levels were measured in a cross-sectional study of 1433 Veterans Administration (VA) patients participating in a pragmatic multi-site pharmacogenomic treatment study of depression. Patients were characterized medically and demographically using VA health records and self-report.

RESULTS

A clearly bimodal distribution was observed for platelet 5-HT levels with the lower mode associated with patients exposed to SRIs at baseline. Median transporter blockade bioeffects were similar across the various selective 5-HT reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and 5-HT/norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs). In a subset of patients apparently not exposed to an SRI, significant effects of population and sex were observed with group mean platelet 5-HT levels being 25 % greater (p < 0.001) in African-American (AA) individuals compared to European-Americans (EAs). The female group mean was 14 % (p < 0.001) greater than male group mean. An effect of age was observed (r = -0.11, p < 0.001) and no effect of season or month of sampling was seen.

CONCLUSIONS

Further research is warranted to understand the bases and clinical implications of the population and sex differences. The apparent similarity in bioeffect at the 5-HT transporter across SSRIs and when comparing SSRIs and SNRIs informs discussions about initiating, dose adjustment and switching of 5-HT reuptake inhibitors.

Effects of low-dose combined olanzapine and sertraline on negative and depressive symptoms in treatment-resistant outpatients with acute exacerbated schizophrenia

Background: Treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS) is a major clinical challenge. Current antipsychotic medications do not adequately address negative and depressive symptoms in patients with TRS, and novel treatments are thus needed. This study examines the efficacy of low-dose combined olanzapine (OLA) and sertraline on depressive and negative symptoms in patients with TRS. Methods: A total of 34 TRS outpatients with acutely exacerbated schizophrenia were randomly assigned to OLA monotherapy (12.5-20 mg/day) (control group) or low-dose combined OLA (7.5-10 mg/day) and sertraline (50-100 mg/day) (OS group). Clinical symptoms were assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) at baseline and at the end of treatment in weeks 4, 8, 12, and 24. Depressive symptoms and social functioning were also assessed. Results: Compared to the control group, the OS group showed significant improvements in depressive and negative symptoms over time. In addition, the low-dose combination of OLA and sertraline significantly improved social functioning compared with OLA monotherapy. There were no significant between-group differences in psychotic symptom improvement. However, the reduction in Hamilton Depression Rating Scale total score and PANSS negative subscore were not associated with improvements in social functioning, suggesting that these effects of combined treatment are independent. Conclusion: Low-dose combined OLA and sertraline may be effective in the treatment of negative and depressive symptoms compared with standard OLA monotherapy in patients with TRS who are experiencing an acute exacerbation of schizophrenia. Clinical Trial Registration: [ClinicalTrials.gov], identifier [NCT04076371].

Novel subgroups of functional ability in older adults and their associations with adverse outcomes

Background

There is no general agreement on a standard form of functional classification in older adults and is mainly assessed by Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and/or Instrument Activity of Daily Living. A refined classification based on evaluation the limitations of intrinsic capacity, environment and social interaction, could provide a basis to predict the future disability and identify individuals with increased risk of adverse outcomes.

Methods

A new functional classification among older adults aged 60 and over was conducted by latent class analysis and compared with the traditional classifications, based on the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. To further investigate the scientific validity of this new classification, associations with 7-year mortality and ADLs impairments among categories were tested by using Survival curves and Cox proportional hazard models. This was followed by the confirmatory analysis related to the prospective data. Competing risk analysis was also performed to analysis the sensitivity to further support our conclusions.

Results

Five categories were identified among 5,992 older adults which gave the best fitting, yielding a significant Bootstrap Likelihood Ratio Test (p < 0.001) and Lo-Mendell-Rubin adjusted likelihood ratio test (p < 0.001), with an entropy over 0.80. The presence of five categories: “health” (34.0%), “sub-disorder status” (36.6%), “acute diseases” (10.3%), “somatic functional disorder” (7.7%), and “viability disorder” (11.4%), which matched well with the functional independence rates by the international classifications. Among them, those in “sub-disorder status” were considered as an intermediate status between disability and health. The findings also revealed that those who were in “acute disease”, “somatic functional disorders”, “health” and “sub-disorder status” had a significant lower risk of mortality and ADLs limitations than “viability disorder”. And the risks gradually increased towards the less functionally independent end of the classification. However, the distribution of characteristics among five categories were in a synchronous change, indicating a stable classification.

Conclusions

A new classification representing the functional heterogeneity of older adults could effectively stratify the risk of mortality and ADLs limitations. Identifying the clusters of functional decline might be useful in predicting subsequent ageing trends, designing personalized intervention, and delaying the progression of disability and preventing its occurrence.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-022-03081-9.

Altered Resting-State Brain Activity in Schizophrenia and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Compared With Non-psychiatric Controls: Commonalities and Distinctions Across Disorders

Backgrounds: Schizophrenia (SCZ) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are classified as two chronic psychiatric disorders with high comorbidity rate and shared clinical symptoms. Abnormal spontaneous brain activity within the cortical-striatal neural circuits has been observed in both disorders. However, it is unclear if the common or distinct neural abnormalities underlie the neurobiological substrates in the resting state. Methods: Resting-state fMRI data were collected from 88 patients with SCZ, 58 patients with OCD, and 72 healthy control subjects. First, we examined differences in amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) among three groups. Resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) analysis with the brain region that showed different ALFF as the seed was then conducted to identify the changes in brain networks. Finally, we examined the correlation between the altered activities and clinical symptoms. Results: Both the patients with SCZ and OCD showed increased ALFF in the right hippocampus and decreased ALFF in the left posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). SCZ patients exhibited increased ALFF in the left caudate [voxel-level family-wise error (FWE) P < 0.05] and decreased rsFC between the left caudate and right cerebellum, which correlated with positive symptoms. The left caudate showed increased rsFC with the right thalamus and bilateral supplementary motor complex (SMC) in OCD patients (cluster-level FWE P < 0.05). Conclusions: The hippocampus and PCC are common regions presenting abnormal local spontaneous neuronal activities in both SCZ and OCD, while the abnormality of the striatum can reflect the differences. Increased ALFF in the striatum and symptom-related weakened rsFC between the caudate and cerebellum showed SCZ specificity. Enhanced rsFC between the caudate and SMC may be a key characteristic in OCD. Our research shows the similarities and differences between the two diseases from the perspective of resting-state fMRI, which provides clues to understand the disease and find methods for treatment.