title: Clinical activity and tolerability of trazodone, mianserin, and amitriptyline in elderly subjects with major depression: a controlled multicenter trial.
abstract: The aim of this multicenter study was to compare trazodone (TRA) with two reference drugs, amitriptyline (AMI) and mianserin (MIA), under double-blind conditions, in an elderly population, to ascertain age-related patterns for efficacy and tolerability. One hundred six elderly depressed inpatients, ranging in age from 60 to 83 years, diagnosed as having major depression according to DSM-III, were treated with 75 mg AMI (37 patients), 60 mg MIA (33 patients) or 150 mg TRA (36 patients) p.o.t.i.d. for 5 weeks. There were no differences in the clinical outcome among the three groups of patients at the end of the trial, with a significant amelioration (p less than 0.01) for the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRS-D) and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). TRA showed a lower overall prevalence of side effects than AMI or MIA, particularly for anticholinergic (p = 0.03 vs. AMI) and cardiovascular (p = 0.05 vs. MIA) effects. For these data GDS seems to be most reliable in detecting changes in elderly depressive symptomatology; moreover a comparable therapeutic response (among the three drugs) but a better tolerance for atypical antidepressants, particularly TRA, make advisable the use of the latter drug in the elderly population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychiatry, University of Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Altamura
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Mauri
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rudas
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Carpiniello
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Montanini
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Perini
authors.forename: P L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Scapicchio
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hadjchristos
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Carucci
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Minervini
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000639:Amitriptyline / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008803:Mianserin / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D011897:Random Allocation; D013997:Time Factors; D014196:Trazodone / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D000639:Amitriptyline; D008803:Mianserin; D014196:Trazodone