EFFECTIVENESS ANALYSIS OF ANTIDEPRESSANTS IN THE MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER: A PROSPECTIVE OBSERVATIONAL STUDY

Background: Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a severe psychiatric illness characterized by persistent sadness, loss of interest, lack of energy, disturbed sleep and suicidality with lifetime prevalence rate for MDD is 16.2%. Treatment options for depression include medication, primarily antidepressants, and psychotherapy. Method: A prospective observational questionaire based study was conducted in psychiatric department of VIMSAR, Burla taking 50 patients diagnosed with MDD for a period of 24months. Effect on QOL was evaluated using WHOQOL (BREF) Questionairre, CGI-S, CGI-I and MADRAS scores. Results: Dosulepin/Dothiepin (TCA) was most frequently prescribed antidepressant followed by escitalopram (SSRI). The efficacy of SSRIs is equivalent to that of TCAs.  There was no significant difference among the four antidepressants with regard to reductions in the total scores on CGI-S, CGI-I and MADRS scales. Conclusion: Antidepressants used for therapy of MDD in our study were effective in QOL improvement, better compliance on long term basis except for side effect profile.