Journal Article10.1192/BJP.163.5.574
Predictors of response to lithium and triiodothyronine augmentation of antidepressants in tricyclic non-responders.
44
TL;DR: Clinical but not endocrine variables may distinguish responders to these two augmentation strategies, and lithium non-responders were more severely depressed and had more insomnia and weight loss than responders.
read more
Abstract: Although both lithium and triiodothyronine (T3) augmentation strategies may be rapid, safe, and effective ways of treating patients who fail to respond to tricyclics, little is known about the clinical or biochemical correlates of response. We examined clinical and endocrine variables which distinguished T3 and lithium responders from each other and from non-responders in a post-hoc analysis of two studies involving 51 subjects who had received these augmentation strategies under double-blind conditions. Lithium non-responders were more severely depressed and had more insomnia and weight loss than responders. T3 responders could be distinguished from lithium responders by greater weight loss. There were no reliable clinical differences between T3 responders and non-responders. Thyroid function tests did not differ between any of the treatment or response groups. Our findings suggest that clinical but not endocrine variables may distinguish responders to these two augmentation strategies.
read more
Chat with Paper
AI Agents for this Paper
Find similar papers on Google Scholar, PubMed and Arxiv
Write a critical review of this paper
Analyze citations of this paper to find unaddressed research gaps
Citations
A Comparison of Lithium and T 3 Augmentation Following Two Failed Medication Treatments for Depression: A STAR*D Report
Andrew A. Nierenberg,Maurizio Fava,Madhukar H. Trivedi,Stephen R. Wisniewski,Michael E. Thase,Patrick J. McGrath,Jonathan E. Alpert,Diane Warden,James F. Luther,George Niederehe,Barry D. Lebowitz,Kathy Shores-Wilson,A. John Rush +12 more
TL;DR: Remission rates with lithium and T(3) augmentation for participants who experienced unsatisfactory results with two prior medication treatments were modest and did not differ significantly, suggesting that it has slight advantages over lithium augmentation over triiodothyronine as a third-step treatment for depressed patients who have experienced several failed medication trials.
434
To combine or not to combine? A literature review of antidepressant combination therapy
TL;DR: Clinically, antidepressant combinations provide a useful resort in otherwise treatment resistant individuals, however, much further research is needed to determine relative efficacy and determine long term outcome.
123
Augmentation Strategies For Treatment Resistant Major Depression: A Systematic Review And Network Meta-Analysis.
Nicolas A. Nuñez,Boney Joseph,Mehak Pahwa,Rakesh Kumar,Manuel Gardea Resendez,Larry J. Prokop,Marin Veldic,Ashok Seshadri,Joanna M. Biernacka,Mark A. Frye,Zhen Wang,Balwinder Singh +11 more
TL;DR: In this article , the authors conducted a systematic review and network meta-analyses (NMA) to combine direct and indirect comparisons of augmentation agents for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) following a treatment course up to 24 weeks.
111
Major depression and demoralization in cancer patients: diagnostic and treatment considerations.
TL;DR: A discussion of the diagnostic specificity of major depression and demoralization (also known as adjustment disorder) is presented here, followed by a review of some effects of comorbid depression and cancer.
107
Role of Lithium Augmentation in the Management of Major Depressive Disorder
TL;DR: A comprehensive and critical review of randomized, placebo-controlled trials, controlled and naturalistic comparator studies, and continuation-phase and discontinuation studies of lithium augmentation in major depression concluded that augmentation of antidepressants with lithium remains a first-line, evidence-based management option for patients who respond inadequately to antidepressants.
104
References
A rating scale for depression
TL;DR: The present scale has been devised for use only on patients already diagnosed as suffering from affective disorder of depressive type, used for quantifying the results of an interview, and its value depends entirely on the skill of the interviewer in eliciting the necessary information.
32.8K
Research diagnostic criteria: Rationale and reliability.
TL;DR: The development and initial reliability studies of a set of specific diagnostic criteria for a selected group of functional psychiatric disorders, the Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC), indicate high reliability for diagnostic judgments made using these criteria.
7.1K
Lithium induces rapid relief of depression in tricyclic antidepressant drug non-responders.
TL;DR: This rapid antidepressant effect of lithium in "treatment-resistant' patients might be due to the enhancement of the efficacy of the central serotoninergic system, unveiling the tricyclic antidepressant-induced sensitization of the serotoninergic postsynaptic receptors.
359
Lithium carbonate augmentation of antidepressant treatment. An effective prescription for treatment-refractory depression.
TL;DR: It is concluded that lithium carbonate does augment the antidepressant effect when added to the long-term antidepressant treatment of nonresponding patients.
279
Lithium Carbonate Addition in Tricyclic Antidepressant—Resistant Unipolar Depression: Correlations With the Neurobiologic Actions of Tricyclic Antidepressant Drugs and Lithium Ion on the Serotonin System
TL;DR: It is proposed that the antidepressant effect of lithium addition in TCA-resistant patients might be mediated by enhancing serotonin neurotransmission.
274