title: Somatic symptoms in treatment-resistant depression.
abstract: The purpose of this work was to study the prevalence of somatic symptoms in patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and their impact on the response to antidepressant treatment. Somatic symptoms were assessed during the screen visit with the Symptom Questionnaire (SQ) somatic symptom (SQ-SS) and somatic well-being sub-scales (SQ-SWB) in 40 patients with TRD enrolled in a 6-week open trial of nortriptyline. A logistic regression was used to test whether SQ-SS or SQ-SWB scores predicted clinical response to nortriptyline. Ninety-five percent of patients reported at least one somatic symptom. Higher SQ-SS scores during the screen visit predicted poorer response to nortriptyline. There was a trend for lower SQ-SWB scores to predict poor response to nortriptyline. None of the patients with SQ-SS scores above the mean for the sample responded to nortriptyline. The overwhelming majority of patients with TRD presented with somatic symptoms. In addition, a greater number of somatic symptoms during the screen visit placed patients at risk for further treatment resistance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Depression Clinical and Research Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA. gpapakostas@partners.org
authors.forename: George I
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Papakostas
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Petersen
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Denninger
authors.forename: Shamsah B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Sonawalla
authors.forename: Yasmin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mahal
authors.forename: Jonathan E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Alpert
authors.forename: Andrew A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Nierenberg
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fava
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D004351:Drug Resistance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic