title: Effect of Citalopram in Combination with Omega-3 on Depression in Post-menopausal Women: A Triple Blind Randomized Controlled Trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Depressive disorder is a common and disabling disorder that causes high rates of morbidity and mortality. Citalopram is an antidepressant drug, of the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) class that has been used for geriatric depression since a long time ago. Prescription of omega-3 in geriatric depression has been increased recently; because of more favorable profile of their side effects. Some of the studies reported that omega-3 is effective in prevention or treatment of depressive disorders than Citalopram. However, there are contradictory studies too.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to investigate the effect of a combination of omega-3 and citalopram in the treatment of women with post-menopausal depression.
  
  
  METHODS
  This triple-blind randomized controlled trial was conducted on 60 women with post-menopausal depression who were referred to the Hamadan Fatemieh Hospital. After the participants completed the DSM-IV questionnaire and depression was confirmed by a psychiatrist, participants were assigned randomly into two-intervention and control groups. The patients in the control group received 20mg citalopram along with a placebo while patients in the intervention group received 20mg citalopram and 1g of omega-3. At baseline and at the end of the first, second, and fourth weeks, all of the participants answered the Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI). Descriptive statistics and t-test, repeated measures analysis of variance and Bonferroni post-hoc test was used to analyse the data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The depression score was 6.1±2.41 in intervention and 25.22±10.04 in control group, four weeks after intervention. A decreasing trend was observed in the mean depression scores of the intervention group during the study. Using repeated measures analysis of variance, a significant difference was observed between the mean depression scores of the two groups at the four measurement time-points (p<0.001). The mean depression scores of the intervention group were significantly lower than the control group either two weeks (p< 0.001) or four weeks after the treatments (p< 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Using omega-3, can reduce the severity of depression in post-menopausal women.
authors.affiliation: PhD, Department of Midwifery, Research Center for Child and Maternity Care, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences , Hamadan, Iran .
authors.forename: Seyedeh Zahra
authors.initials: SZ
authors.lastname: Masoumi
authors.affiliation: PhD Student of Reproductive Health, Department of Midwifery and Reproductive Health, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences , Tehran, Iran .
authors.forename: Farideh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kazemi
authors.affiliation: Msc, Midwife in Fatemieh Hospital, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences , Iran .
authors.forename: Samira
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tavakolian
authors.affiliation: Faculty, Department of Psychiatry, Research Center for Behavioural Disorders and Substance Abuse, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences , Hamadan, Iran .
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rahimi
authors.affiliation: PhD, Department of Medical_Surgical Nursing, Research Center for Child and Maternity Care, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences , Hamadan, Iran .
authors.forename: Khodayar
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Oshvandi
authors.affiliation: PhD, Department of Biostatistics and Modelling of Noncomunicable Diseases Research Center, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences , Hamadan, Iran .
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Soltanian
authors.affiliation: PhD, Department of Midwifery, Research Center for Child and Maternity Care, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences , Hamadan, Iran .
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Shobeiri
keywords: Antidepressant drug; Depressive disorders; Menopause