Escitalopram in clinical practice in Greece: treatment response and tolerability in depressed patients.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effectiveness and tolerability of escitalopram (10-20 mg/day) in adult outpatients suffering from major depressive disorder in naturalistic settings.


METHODS
An open-label, 3-month, surveillance study was conducted in 434 investigative sites in Greece enrolling 5175 patients. Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S) scale and patient-rated Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS) were used as efficacy measurements and treatment discontinuation rates due to adverse events was used to assess tolerability.


RESULTS
Clinically significant improvement in CGI-S scores was recorded after 3 months. At baseline, patients reported marked or extreme disability for work (38%), social life (41%) and family life (37%), whereas after 3 months of treatment, 80.6%, 79.5% and 83.5% of patients indicated either no or mild disability, respectively. Escitalopram had good tolerability, demonstrated by a very low rate of discontinuations due to adverse events.


CONCLUSIONS
In this large naturalistic study, escitalopram was well tolerated and improved both depressive symptoms and function.
Stamouli
S S
SS
University of Athens Eginition Hospital, 1st Psychiatric Department, Athens, Greece. sofistam@in.gr
Yfantis
A
A
Lamboussis
E
E
Liakouras
A
A
Lagari
V
V
Tzanakaki
M
M
Giailoglou
D
D
Legault
M
M
Parashos
I A
IA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000379:methods; D001007:Anxiety / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000523:psychology; D015283:Citalopram / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009325:Nausea / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000523:psychology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
D015283:Citalopram