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Query: UMLS:C0011570 (depression)
 172,036 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are a recently developed class of drugs with significantly greater antidepressant efficacy than placebo. Generally, in double-blind comparative trials, all SSRIs demonstrated antidepressant efficacy similar to that of the 'standard' tricyclic antidepressants amitriptyline and imipramine; a meta-analysis of controlled trials found the efficacy of the SSRIs to be equivalent to that of the 2 tricyclics. Nevertheless, because of small patient numbers included in most studies that compare SSRIs with other antidepressants, no definitive statements about relative efficacy can be made. In these studies it is simply possible to state that no statistically significant differences were identified between SSRIs and the comparative antidepressants. Importantly, differences in clinical characteristics exist between the SSRIs-differences in elimination half-life (t1/2 beta) between fluoxetine and/or its metabolite (total t1/2 beta = 330 hours) and other SSRIs (t1/2 beta range = 15 to 30 hours), for example. This has implications in terms of potential drug interactions and must be considered when patients have to be switched to treatment with monoamine oxidase inhibitors. Studies with fluvoxamine have been conducted in both in- and outpatients, whereas trials with other SSRIs have been confined largely to outpatient populations. Fluvoxamine has been associated with a high incidence of nausea (37%), although this may have resulted from high initial dosages (rather than upward dose titration protocols) used in early trials. Of further interest, fluoxetine doses of 20mg may be sufficient to produce a satisfactory antidepressant response, and this SSRI may be particularly useful in patients with chronic retarded depression. More clinical data are required before the efficacy of sertraline and citalopram relative to standard antidepressants can be clearly defined. Preliminary data indicate that SSRIs are effective in the treatment of panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), eating (e.g. anorexia and bulimia) and personality disorders (e.g. anger, impulsiveness) and substance abuse (e.g. alcoholism); early results with fluvoxamine in the treatment of panic disorder and OCD, and with fluoxetine in the treatment of bulimia, personality disorders and alcohol abuse, have been encouraging. SSRIs have a more favourable tolerability profile than tricyclic antidepressants and, unlike the tricyclics, are not associated with anticholinergic adverse effects, sedation, cardiotoxicity or weight gain. SSRIs are associated with a relatively high incidence of nausea, particularly if high doses are used at the start of treatment. However, the incidence of nausea appears to decrease as treatment is continued.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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PMID:Comparative efficacy of antidepressants. 137 69

Depression is a heterogeneous disease state characterised by complex alterations in several CNS neurotransmitter and receptor systems. All antidepressants are thought to act by causing postsynaptic adaptive changes (e.g. in transducers or second messengers) within these systems. Thus, the mechanism of action of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) cannot simply be explained in terms of inhibition of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) [5-HT] reuptake. Fluvoxamine, sertraline and fluoxetine downregulate central beta-adrenoceptors, and all SSRIs are believed to normalise central 5-HT1A- and 5-HT2-receptor density and function in patients with depression. SSRIs are as effective as tricyclic antidepressants in the treatment of depression, but have distinct tolerability advantages--they are not associated with anticholinergic adverse effects, cardiotoxicity, sedation or weight gain. However, gastrointestinal reactions (e.g. nausea, diarrhoea/loose stools, constipation) are relatively common during SSRI therapy. Additionally, in contrast to tricyclic antidepressants, SSRI dosage adjustments appear to be unnecessary in elderly depressed patients. Fluvoxamine has a much shorter elimination half-life than fluoxetine and its active metabolite, norfluoxetine, and therefore a reduced potential for drug interactions. Only small amounts of fluvoxamine and fluoxetine, but large quantities of paroxetine, are secreted in breast milk. Furthermore, genetic polymorphism has not been documented for fluvoxamine metabolism, whereas slow and fast metabolisers of paroxetine, and fast metabolisers of fluoxetine have been identified. SSRIs have a better tolerability profile than tricyclic antidepressants, as indicated by lower mean rank scores for behavioural toxicity. Moreover, SSRIs are associated with a much lower incidence of fatal toxicity than tricyclics, and appear to be relatively safe in overdosage.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Pharmacological differences of serotonin reuptake inhibitors and possible clinical relevance. 137 71

The pharmacology and pharmacokinetics, adverse effects, drug interactions, efficacy, and dosage and administration of the new selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors paroxetine, sertraline, and fluvoxamine are reviewed. Paroxetine, sertraline, and fluvoxamine all have large volumes of distribution and are highly bound to plasma proteins. In contrast to fluoxetine, these three drugs possess shorter elimination half-lives of approximately one day and are metabolized to clinically inactive compounds. Nausea was the most commonly reported adverse effect for all three agents. Other reported adverse effects are headache, sedation, dry mouth, insomnia, sexual dysfunction, and constipation. Because of their favorable pharmacokinetic profiles, paroxetine, sertraline, and fluvoxaetine are less likely than fluoxamine to interact with other drugs. Paroxetine has been found to be superior to placebo and equivalent to amitriptyline, imipramine, clomipramine, and doxepin in treatment of depression. Sertraline has been found to be superior to placebo and equivalent to amitriptyline in treatment of depression. Fluvoxamine has been found to be superior to placebo and equivalent to imipramine, clomipramine, desipramine, mianserin, and maprotiline in the treatment of depression. Fluvoxamine and sertraline have been shown to be superior to placebo in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Clinical experience has demonstrated all three drugs to be effective in treatment of depression. They may be especially useful in elderly patients, in those who cannot tolerate alternative treatments, and in those who do not respond to adequate trials of other antidepressant therapies.
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PMID:Paroxetine, sertraline, and fluvoxamine: new selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. 146 19

Fluvoxamine is a potent and specific 5-HT reuptake inhibitor which has been available since 1983 and is estimated to have been given to two and a half million patients since it was first investigated in patients with depression in the late 1970s. The effectiveness of fluvoxamine in depression is therefore analysed in this review, on the basis of ten years experience. Results from 10 international double-blind placebo-controlled trials, the large majority of which included a positive control (usually imipramine), have shown that fluvoxamine is as effective as the older tricyclic antidepressants and significantly more effective than placebo. In the majority of twenty direct comparative studies against other antidepressants, fluvoxamine has been found to be as effective and well-tolerated as the reference drug. Effectiveness in the elderly depressed and support for the use of fluvoxamine in tricyclic-resistant depression is discussed. Clinical trials of fluvoxamine conducted in anxiety states and obsessive-compulsive disorder, both of which commonly co-occur with depression, are reviewed, and the efficacy of fluvoxamine in the depressed obese and patients with bulimia nervosa is examined. Reports of adverse experiences, both from clinical trials and clinical practice are discussed, and the overall risk-benefit for fluvoxamine treatment in depression is critically assessed.
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PMID:A review of fluvoxamine and its uses in depression. 180 31

The large number of antidepressants available provides a wide range of choice. While clinical effectiveness is the most important consideration, toxicity in overdose must be considered in the risk-benefit assessment of each antidepressant. There are almost 300 deaths each year in Britain from tricyclic overdose, and very few deaths from newer antidepressants. Fluvoxamine appears to have low toxicity in overdose. Symptoms are often minimal: nausea, vomiting, dizziness and somnolence. There is one reported case of prolonged cerebral depression after ingestion of 5.5 g. Overdoses of up to 9 g have produced minimal symptoms and full recovery. No deaths from overdose with fluvoxamine alone have been reported in the literature, although one death certificate in Britain has mentioned fluvoxamine as the cause of death. Fluvoxamine appears to be a valuable alternative to the tricyclic antidepressants, and has a high margin of safety in overdose.
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PMID:Overdose and safety with fluvoxamine. 180 34

Fluvoxamine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, was compared with lorazepam in a multicentre double-blind, parallel group study in 112 general practice patients with mixed anxiety and depression. For inclusion, patients were required to have minimum baseline scores of 21 on the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and 11 on the Clinical Anxiety Scale (CAS). Treatment was for 6 weeks. There were no significant differences between treatments at any point except in an elderly subgroup in whom anxiety improved more rapidly with lorazepam. There were significant improvements in MADRS, CAS and global ratings compared with baseline at all subsequent assessments. Improvement continued during the whole treatment period. Lorazepam produced more sedation, whilst fluvoxamine produced significantly more nausea and vomiting; this was usually early in onset and, if tolerated, resolved during the course of the study. As it is now widely recognized that benzodiazepines should only be given in short courses of 2-4 weeks, the continued improvement up to 6 weeks has implications regarding choice of treatment.
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PMID:A multicentre double-blind comparative trial of fluvoxamine versus lorazepam in mixed anxiety and depression treated in general practice. 210 98

The authors employed a double-blind, placebo-controlled design to investigate the effectiveness of fluvoxamine versus imipramine in 54 outpatients with moderate major depression. Fluvoxamine proved superior to placebo but not to imipramine on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and the Montgomery and Asberg Depression Rating Scale. Nausea and hyperarousal were the most common side effects in the fluvoxamine-treated patients.
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PMID:A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of fluvoxamine versus imipramine in outpatients with major depression. 211 May 60

To evaluate whether serotonin reuptake inhibition is critical to the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder, 40 outpatients with a principal diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder were randomized in a double-blind fashion to 8 weeks of treatment with either the serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluvoxamine maleate (n = 21) or the norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor desipramine hydrochloride (n = 19). Fluvoxamine was significantly better than desipramine in reducing the severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms, as measured by the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale and by the global response rate ("responder" equaling "much improved"). Eleven of 21 patients were responders with fluvoxamine compared with 2 of 19 patients with desipramine. Fluvoxamine, but not desipramine, was also effective in reducing the severity of "secondary" depression. Fluvoxamine-induced improvement in symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder was not correlated with the severity of baseline depressive symptoms. This study provides additional evidence that the acute serotonin reuptake properties of a drug are predictive of its anti-obsessive-compulsive efficacy. It is hypothesized that the mechanism of action of serotonin reuptake inhibitors in obsessive-compulsive disorder may be related to chronic treatment-induced adaptive changes in presynaptic serotonin receptor function (eg, autoreceptor desensitization) and/or indirect influences on dopaminergic function (eg, in the basal ganglia).
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PMID:Specificity of serotonin reuptake inhibitors in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Comparison of fluvoxamine and desipramine. 202 4

Forty patients with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder were entered in a double-blind study to assess comparative clinical response and pharmacologic parameters of fluvoxamine, a highly selective blocker of serotonin reuptake, and desipramine, a noradrenergic agent. Eighteen patients receiving desipramine and 17 patients receiving fluvoxamine completed the study. Fluvoxamine was comparable to desipramine in its antidepressant efficacy and was better tolerated and caused minimal side effects. There was a direct linear relationship between plasma fluvoxamine levels and clinical response and a nonlinear relationship between plasma desipramine levels and clinical response. The pharmacologic specificity of the two drugs was assessed by determining uptake inhibition of serotonin and norepinephrine. The authors found a positive relationship between Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression scores and norepinephrine uptake inhibition for desipramine but found no such relationship between fluvoxamine and serotonin uptake inhibition. Although there was a clear-cut difference in the quality of pharmacologic specificity and a partial relationship to clinical response, the authors were unable to identify neuropharmacologic factors that would predict either treatment response or selective amelioration of symptomatologies in this patient population.
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PMID:The role of neuropharmacologic selectivity in antidepressant action: fluvoxamine versus desipramine. 212 Feb 1

Fluvoxamine, a potent and selective serotonin uptake inhibitor, effectively reduced compulsive handwashing and other rituals in a patient previously refractory to behaviour therapy, clomipramine, MAO inhibitors and other pharmacotherapy. Treatment effect was delayed but broadly patholytic, reducing anxiety and depression scores as well as ratings of obsessiveness.
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PMID:Successful fluvoxamine treatment of a case of refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder. 212 85


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