Mirtazapine for patients with alcohol dependence and comorbid depressive disorders: a multicentre, open label study.
Major depressive disorder and alcohol dependence are common and serious mental illnesses. There is a great interest in discovering useful treatments for both mood symptoms and alcohol abuse in those patients with depressive disorders and comorbid alcohol dependence. The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and tolerability of mirtazapine for the treatment of patients with alcohol dependence comorbid with a depressive disorder in an open label, naturalistic multicentre treatment setting. The 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS) and the Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S) scale were measured at baseline and at weeks 4 and 8 for the assessment of treatment effectiveness. Alcohol craving was measured using the Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS) and the Visual Analog Scale for Craving (VAS). This study showed a statistically significant reduction of the scores on the HDRS (13.9+/-7.3, p<0.0001), HARS (10.8+/-7.2, p<0.0001) and the CGI-S (1.7+/-1.0, p<0.0001) from baseline to the endpoint (week 8). The OCDS and VAS scores were also decreased significantly by 42.3% and 53.2% (9.0+/-10.0, p<0.0001; 2.5+/-2.4, p<0.0001, respectively). The number of patients with a 50% reduction or more in the HDRS and HARS scores was 103 (72.0%) and 106 (74.1%) at the endpoint, respectively. Adverse events related to mirtazapine were observed in 10% or more of the patients in this study. In conclusion, the results from this naturalistic study suggest that the use of mirtazapine for the patients with alcohol dependence comorbid with depressive disorder is accompanied by clinical improvement in their mood and alcohol craving.
Yoon
Su-Jung
SJ
Department of Psychiatry, St. Paul's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Republic of Korea.
Pae
Chi-Un
CU
Kim
Dai-Jin
DJ
Namkoong
Kee
K
Lee
Eun
E
Oh
Dong-Yul
DY
Lee
Young-Sik
YS
Shin
Dong-Hwan
DH
Jeong
Young-Cheol
YC
Kim
Joon-Hong
JH
Choi
Sung-Bin
SB
Hwang
In-Bok
IB
Shin
Young-Chul
YC
Cho
Sung-Nam
SN
Lee
Hae Kook
HK
Lee
Chung Tai
CT
D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008803:Mianserin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008875:Middle Aged; D000078785:Mirtazapine; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013997:Time Factors
D000929:Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic; D008803:Mianserin; D000078785:Mirtazapine