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Add‐on polytherapy with antidepressants and its significance in inpatients with major depression
Author(s) -
Wada Ken,
Yamada Norihito,
Hamamura Takashi,
Suzuki Hiroshi,
Nakano Yoshiyuki,
Kuroda Shigetoshi
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
psychiatry and clinical neurosciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1440-1819
pISSN - 1323-1316
DOI - 10.1046/j.1440-1819.1999.00605.x
Subject(s) - tricyclic , tricyclic antidepressant , antidepressant , depression (economics) , medicine , adverse effect , anesthesia , pharmacology , macroeconomics , hippocampus , economics
Add‐on polytherapy with antidepressant agents was reviewed in 42 inpatients with major depression diagnosed according to the ICD‐10 criteria. Twenty‐eight (67.7%) patients were treated with two or more antidepressants. The most frequent combination consisted of a tricyclic antidepressant and a non‐tricyclic antidepressant. Nineteen (67.8%) patients of the polytherapy group were treated with a dosage equivalent to 150 mg/day of tricyclic antidepressant. Clinically, not every patient with major depression can tolerate the adverse side effects induced by an effective dose of a single tricyclic antidepressant. From this viewpoint, add‐on polytherapy with antidepressants could be one of the treatment options, especially for such intolerant patients.