title: Quality of life in geriatric depression: a comparison of remitters, partial responders, and nonresponders.
abstract: The authors examined patterns of improvement in quality of life (QOL) in elderly patients with recurrent major depression (MDD) after acute treatment. One hundred elderly (age 60-88 years) patients with recurrent MDD were randomized to receive either bupropion sustained-release (100 mg-300 mg/day) or paroxetine (10 mg-40 mg/day) for 6 weeks. Treatment with both paroxetine and bupropion was associated with improvements in QOL. Lower perceived Physical- and Social-Functioning QOL ratings at baseline were associated with lower treatment response. Improvement in depression symptom ratings correlated significantly with improvement in QOL on many domains, but accounted for less than one-quarter of the total variance. Remitters showed significantly (P<0.001) greater improvement than both Partial Responders and Nonresponders on various measures. Findings support the importance of treating elderly depressed patients to full remission to maximize impact on both emotional and physical QOL domains.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Box 3018, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA. dorai001@mc.duke.edu
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Doraiswamy
authors.forename: Z M
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Donahue
authors.forename: N E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Richard
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D018687:Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016642:Bupropion / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012074:Remission Induction; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D018687:Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation; D016642:Bupropion; D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors