Medline ® Abstract for Reference 12
of 'Using scales to monitor symptoms and treat depression (measurement based care)'
12
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Relapse of major depression after complete and partial remission during a 2-year follow-up.
AU
Pintor L, GastóC, Navarro V, Torres X, Fañanas L
SO
J Affect Disord. 2003;73(3):237.
BACKGROUND:
Rates of remission and relapse were studied over more than 2 years in a sample of Spanish outpatients with DSM-III-R criteria of unipolar major depressive episodes.
METHODS:
Patients were treated following standardised pharmacological protocols at our centre. In the first visit, the structured clinical interview for DSM-III-R (SCID) was used. The following visits were held monthly. Phases of evolution were recorded using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), applying the Frank criteria.
RESULTS:
A significantly greater proportion of relapse was observed in the partial remission group compared to the complete remission one. The rate of relapses for patients in complete remission was 15.18%, while for patients in partial remission was 67.61%. Partial remission was significantly associated with relapses.
LIMITATIONS:
The short duration of the study and the decreasing sample size during the follow-up.
CONCLUSIONS:
Partial remission after a depressive episode seems to be strongly associated with relapses. Moreover, this clinical factor could by itself fully predict short-term relapses.
CLINICAL RELEVANCE:
The study shows the importance of reaching complete remission to decrease the rate of short-term relapses.
AD
Instituto Clínico de Psiquiatría y Psicología, Hospital Clínico de Barcelona, C/Villarroel 170, 08036, Barcelona, Spain. 29454pp@comb.es
PMID