Sequential improvement of anxiety, depression and anhedonia with sertraline treatment in patients with major depression.
OBJECTIVE
To establish the therapeutic effect profile of sertraline in major depression. It was hypothesized that the antidepressant effect of sertraline showed three phases: Phase 1 where improvements in anxiety are most pronounced; Phase 2 where the greatest improvements are in depressive symptoms; and Phase 3 where the symptoms of anhedonia show the most improvement. To test this hypothesis, an 8-week, open-label study was conducted.


METHODS
Patients with a major depressive episode (DSM-IV) and a score > or = 24 on the 17-item HAM-D were enrolled and treated with sertraline 50-150 mg/day. The three symptomatic clusters, anxiety, depression and hedonia, were defined a priori using the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Clinician rated (IDS-C). Periods of interest were: Days 0-7 for anxiety, Days 7-21 for depression and Days 21-56 for anhedonia. Raters were blinded as to the constitution of the clusters and periods.


RESULTS
140 patients were recruited. Improvement in the anxiety cluster of the IDS-C was greatest during Days 0-7, whereas over Days 7-21 most improvement was observed in the depression cluster and the greatest improvement in the hedonic cluster occurred during Days 21-56.


CONCLUSIONS
These preliminary results are consistent with the hypothesis that the therapeutic effects of sertraline occur in a sequential manner. The symptoms of anxiety improved first, followed by depression and then anhedonia.
Boyer
P
P
Hôpital de la Salpetrière, Bd de l'hôpital, 75013 Paris, France. paboyer@ext.jussieu.fr
Tassin
J P
JP
Falissart
B
B
Troy
S
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003863:Depression / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D020280:Sertraline / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors; D020280:Sertraline