title: Initial depression severity and response to antidepressants v. placebo: patient-level data analysis from 34 randomised controlled trials.
abstract: Several often-cited meta-analyses have reported that the efficacy of antidepressant medications depends on the severity of depression. They found that drug-placebo differences increased as a function of initial severity, which was attributed to decreased responsiveness to placebo among patients with severe depression rather than to increased responsiveness to medication. We retested this using patient-level data and also undertaking a meta-analysis of trial-level data from 34 randomised placebo controlled trials (n = 10 737) from the NEWMEDS registry. Although our trial-level data support prevous findings, patient-level data did not show any significant effect of initial depression severity on drug v. placebo difference.
authors.affiliation: Jonathan Rabinowitz, PhD, Nomi Werbeloff, PhD, School of Social Work, Ramat Gan, Bar Ilan University, Israel; Francine S. Mandel, PhD, Pfizer Development Operations, New York, USA; François Menard, MD, Lundbec Research Department, Paris, France; Lauren Marangell, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, Texas, USA; Shitij Kapur, MD, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London, London, UK Jonathan.Rabinowitz@biu.ac.il.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rabinowitz
authors.affiliation: Jonathan Rabinowitz, PhD, Nomi Werbeloff, PhD, School of Social Work, Ramat Gan, Bar Ilan University, Israel; Francine S. Mandel, PhD, Pfizer Development Operations, New York, USA; François Menard, MD, Lundbec Research Department, Paris, France; Lauren Marangell, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, Texas, USA; Shitij Kapur, MD, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Nomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Werbeloff
authors.affiliation: Jonathan Rabinowitz, PhD, Nomi Werbeloff, PhD, School of Social Work, Ramat Gan, Bar Ilan University, Israel; Francine S. Mandel, PhD, Pfizer Development Operations, New York, USA; François Menard, MD, Lundbec Research Department, Paris, France; Lauren Marangell, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, Texas, USA; Shitij Kapur, MD, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Francine S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Mandel
authors.affiliation: Jonathan Rabinowitz, PhD, Nomi Werbeloff, PhD, School of Social Work, Ramat Gan, Bar Ilan University, Israel; Francine S. Mandel, PhD, Pfizer Development Operations, New York, USA; François Menard, MD, Lundbec Research Department, Paris, France; Lauren Marangell, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, Texas, USA; Shitij Kapur, MD, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Menard
authors.affiliation: Jonathan Rabinowitz, PhD, Nomi Werbeloff, PhD, School of Social Work, Ramat Gan, Bar Ilan University, Israel; Francine S. Mandel, PhD, Pfizer Development Operations, New York, USA; François Menard, MD, Lundbec Research Department, Paris, France; Lauren Marangell, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, Texas, USA; Shitij Kapur, MD, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Lauren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Marangell
authors.affiliation: Jonathan Rabinowitz, PhD, Nomi Werbeloff, PhD, School of Social Work, Ramat Gan, Bar Ilan University, Israel; Francine S. Mandel, PhD, Pfizer Development Operations, New York, USA; François Menard, MD, Lundbec Research Department, Paris, France; Lauren Marangell, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, Texas, USA; Shitij Kapur, MD, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Shitij
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kapur
mesh_terms: D018687:Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D063868:Patient Outcome Assessment; D015990:Placebo Effect; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D018687:Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation