title: Effects of age on paroxetine efficacy in patients with major depressive disorder who do not exhibit an early response to treatment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We investigated the effects of age on the association between early and eventual responses to paroxetine treatment in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty-nine patients with MDD were administered paroxetine and completed the 6-week protocol. On the basis of our previous study, we defined early responders as those patients with the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) improvements higher than 35% at 2 weeks and responders as those patients with MADRS improvements higher than 50% at 6 weeks. The participants were divided into 4 groups in accordance with their responses: early response responders, early response nonresponders, nonearly response responders (NER-Rs), and nonearly response nonresponders (NER-NRs). Demographic data and the MADRS scores between the early response responders and the early response nonresponders and between the NER-Rs and the NER-NRs were compared. We used a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to analyze age to determine the cutoff points for distinguishing responders and nonresponders in early and nonearly responders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a significant difference in age between the NER-Rs and the NER-NRs, with the NER-Rs being younger than the NER-NRs. The threshold for the response in the early responders was 42 years old. The area under the curve of the ROC curve of the early responders was 0.548. The threshold for the response of the nonearly responders was 55 years old. The area under the curve of the ROC curve of the early responders was 0.733.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The effects of age on the association between the responsiveness in the early phase of antidepressant treatment and the eventual response were identified in patients with MDD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tomita
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Taku
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakagami
authors.forename: Shoko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsuchimine
authors.forename: Ayako
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kaneda
authors.forename: Sunao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.forename: Kazuhiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yasui-Furukori
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D018687:Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017374:Paroxetine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012372:ROC Curve; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D018687:Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation; D017374:Paroxetine