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A double‐blind comparison of moclobemide and doxepin in depressed general practice patients
Author(s) -
Lingjaerde O.,
Jørgensen J.,
Steren R.,
Thomle S.,
Raeder L. Wendt,
Ruud L. E.,
Schetelig E.,
Sveaas H. K.,
Leivestad Ø.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1995.tb09555.x
Subject(s) - doxepin , moclobemide , depression (economics) , antidepressant , medicine , rating scale , psychology , anesthesia , developmental psychology , macroeconomics , hippocampus , economics
A total of 56 patients attending a general practitioner for treatment of depression, most of whom met the criteria for major depression, were included in this double‐blind, parallel group, 6‐week study, in which the selective MAO‐A inhibitor moclobemide (MOC; maximum dose 600 mg) was compared with the tricyclic antidepressant doxepin (DOX; maximum dose 250 mg). Thirty patients on MOC and 23 on DOX were assessed after treatment for at least 1 week and are included in the response evaluation. Improvement was assessed primarily with the Montgomery‐Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). There were only 4 drop‐outs in the MOC group and three in the DOX group after 1 week. Overall improvement measures showed a nonsignificant difference in favor of DOX. Two factors were found to have prognostic significance: (1) previous or present panic attacks (10 patients in the MOC group and – by chance – only one in the DOX group) were associated with significantly lower improvement within the MOC group. Since we had no a priori hypothesis about this effect, it could be a chance finding. (2) Improvement was negatively correlated with age; this was statistically significant in the total group as well as in the MOC group, with a nonsignificant trend in the same direction in the DOX group. Side effects differed little between the two groups; only dryness of mouth appeared with markedly higher frequency in the DOX group.