title: The outcome of antidepressant use in the medically ill.
abstract: To examine the feasibility of using antidepressant medication to treat major depressive syndromes in the hospitalized medically ill, we reviewed a series of psychiatric consultations meeting the following criteria: the consultant diagnosed a major depressive syndrome, treatment with an antidepressant was advised, the consultee initiated the antidepressant, and hospitalization had been prompted by a major medical illness. The final sample of 50 consultations, representing less than 5% of the case reviewed, was assessed by retrospective study of entries in the medical record. Judgments regarding response were thus a function of routine clinical observation and care. Drugs were not randomly assigned; rather, the choices represented ongoing clinical usage patterns. Two major points emerge from the data of the study. First, 32% of the trials were terminated due to side effects judged to be unacceptable by the physicians or consultants. Delirium accounted for half of such side effects; cardiotoxicity, however, was not evident. Second, only 40% of patients with medical illnesses, including malignant neoplasm, insulin-dependent diabetes, and epilepsy, responded to treatment. The trials of antidepressants in medical-surgical inpatients did not achieve the pattern of therapeutic responses routinely characterizing comparable interventions in psychiatric patients with primary affective disorder.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000639:Amitriptyline / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007099:Imipramine / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008875:Middle Aged; D010919:Placebos; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative
chemical_list: D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic; D010919:Placebos; D000639:Amitriptyline; D007099:Imipramine