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.
University of Athens Eginition Hospital, 1st Psychiatric Department, Athens, Greece. sofistam@in.gr
S S
SS
Stamouli
A
A
Yfantis
E
E
Lamboussis
A
A
Liakouras
V
V
Lagari
M
M
Tzanakaki
D
D
Giailoglou
M
M
Legault
I A
IA
Parashos
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