Sequential improvement of anxiety, depression and anhedonia with sertraline treatment in patients with major depression
by
Boyer P, Tassin JP, Falissart B, Troy S
Hopital de la Salpetriere, Bd de l'hopital,
75013 Paris, France;
Inserm U114, College de France, Paris, France;
INSERM U 472, Hopital Paul Brousse, Villejuif, France;
Pfizer, 91407 Orsay, France.
J Clin Pharm Ther 2000 Oct; 25(5):363-71

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To establish the therapeutic effect profile of sertraline in major depression. It was hypothesized that the antidepressant effect of sertraline showed three phases: Phase 1 where improvements in anxiety are most pronounced; Phase 2 where the greatest improvements are in depressive symptoms; and Phase 3 where the symptoms of anhedonia show the most improvement. To test this hypothesis, an 8-week, open-label study was conducted. METHODS: Patients with a major depressive episode (DSM-IV) and a score >/=24 on the 17-item HAM-D were enrolled and treated with sertraline 50-150 mg/day. The three symptomatic clusters, anxiety, depression and hedonia, were defined a priori using the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Clinician rated (IDS-C). Periods of interest were: Days 0-7 for anxiety, Days 7-21 for depression and Days 21-56 for anhedonia. Raters were blinded as to the constitution of the clusters and periods. RESULTS: 140 patients were recruited. Improvement in the anxiety cluster of the IDS-C was greatest during Days 0-7, whereas over Days 7-21 most improvement was observed in the depression cluster and the greatest improvement in the hedonic cluster occurred during Days 21-56. CONCLUSION: These preliminary results are consistent with the hypothesis that the therapeutic effects of sertraline occur in a sequential manner. The symptoms of anxiety improved first, followed by depression and then anhedonia.

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