title: The tridimensional personality questionnaire as a predictor of response to nefazodone treatment of depression.
abstract: Personality traits have emerged as the strongest identified predictors of response to antidepressant treatment of major depressive disorder (Peselow et al., 1992; Joyce et al., 1994). 18 subjects in the midst of a major depressive episode were treated with nefazodone in an open trial. All subjects completed Cloninger's tridimensional personality questionnaire (TPQ) before beginning treatment. A multiple regression analysis was performed in an attempt to replicate Joyce et al.'s (1994) finding that temperament type, as assessed by the TPQ, is a strong predictor of antidepressant response. A model involving TPQ reward dependence and harm avoidance scores, and their interaction, was found to significantly predict the response to nefazodone (r2 = 0.47, P < 0.027). When response was defined as a 50% decrease in HAM-D score at last visit, high reward dependence score alone significantly separated responders from nonresponders (Fisher's exact P = 0.050, df = 1). These results raise the intriguing possibility that TPQ scores may have direct clinical applications.
authors.affiliation: Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, St Louis, MO 63110, USA.
authors.forename: E C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Cloninger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000523:psychology; D010553:Personality Development; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010879:Piperazines; D011379:Prognosis; D011594:Psychometrics; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014230:Triazoles / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D010879:Piperazines; D014230:Triazoles; C051752:nefazodone