Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 18, Issue 36, 2012

Depression is one of the most common psychiatric conditions affecting numerous individuals in the world. However, the currently available antidepressant medication shows low response and remission rates. Thus, new antidepressants need to be discovered or developed. Aiming to describe the current neurobiological hypotheses regarding the pathophysiology of depression and in order to give an overview of novel Read More

The aim of this review was to describe the sleep anomalies in depression, the effects of antidepressants on sleep, the usefulness of antidepressants in the treatment of primary insomnia and insomnia in other psychiatric disorders. Depression is associated with abnormalities in the sleep pattern that include disturbances of sleep continuity, diminished slow-wave sleep (SWS) and altered rapid eye movement (REM) sleep paramete Read More

The aim of antidepressant drug treatment is to produce remission without causing adverse effects during the acute phase of the illness and to prevent relapses or recurrences during continuation or maintenance therapy. To achieve these goals, drug choice and dosage must be optimized for each patient individually. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM), which is based on the assumption that clinical effects correlate better Read More

The prevalence of depression in patients with epilepsy (PWE) is high. To elucidate the nature of depression in PWE, a comparison was made between PWE and patients with idiopathic depression (PWID), applying 3 test batteries: Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II), Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BAQ). The former 2 rating scales were devel Read More

Stress constitutes a risk factor for diseases where the immune system plays a significant role. Stress is recognized as a possible trigger for flare ups during the course of multiple sclerosis (MS). The disclosure to the patient of the diagnosis of MS, the commencement of immunomodulatory therapy, and the unpredictability and vagaries of disease progression are all sources of stress. Biological stress systems such as the hyp Read More

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a prevalent mental illness associated with significant impairment in quality of life and treatment resistance in as many as 50% of patients. Few alternatives to psychopharmacological and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) exist. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is one such alternative with demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of both MDD and treatment- resistant depression (TRD). Accr Read More

Background: Antidepressant medication is a major cornerstone in treatment of mood and anxiety disorders. Numerous substances are available on the market; however, only 60% of treated patients show sufficient response to medication and side effects are common. Lengthy trials are not uncommon until the optimized drug and dose is found and unfortunately, no valid predictors to match the ‘right’ drug to the ‘right’ patie Read More

The heritability of major depression has been documented in a number of epidemiologic studies. Twin studies have estimated the heritability at about 37% and these estimation can rise up to 70% if severity, relapse rate and age of onset are considered. Despite the relative importance of genetic risk factors in the pathogenesis of this disease, molecular genetic studies, including large genome-wide association studies, only Read More

Studies of the World Health Organization suggest that in the year 2020, depressive disorder will be the illness with the highest burden of disease. Especially unipolar depression is the psychiatric disorder with the highest prevalence and incidence, it is cost-intensive and has a relatively high morbidity. Lately, the biological process involved in the aetiology of depression has been the focus of research. Since its emergence, the Read More

Impaired glucose tolerance is observed in depressed patients, and patients suffering from depression have an increased risk to develop diabetes mellitus. In depressed and diabetic patients, studies have shown both a beneficial effect of antidepressants on glucose homeostasis and the opposite. This review aims to structure the conflicting data and focuses on the question, which effect specific antidepressants have on gl Read More

There is a plausible role for cytokines, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and their interaction in major depressive disorder's (MDD) etiology. This review includes (i) briefly defining cytokines, (ii) a discussion of theories for why they may affect brain function, (iii) cross-sectional associations between cytokines and MDD, (iv) the effect of antidepressants on cytokines, (v) the behavioral effects of cytokines administration to hu Read More

Objective: The objective of the study is to systematically analyze and summarize research literature regarding health service use and costs of depressive symptoms in late life. Design: Relevant articles were identified by systematically searching the databases MEDLINE, Web of Science, PSYNDEXplus, PsycINFO, and Cochrane Library. Keywords were ‘depression’ or ‘depressive*’, and ‘cost’ or ‘economic burden’ or ‘utilizati Read More

Depressive disorders place a large burden on patients and on society. Although efficacious treatment options for unipolar depressive disorders exist, substantial gaps in care remain. In part, the challenge lies in the matching of individual patients with appropriate care. This is complicated by the steady increases in the variety of antidepressants available in the market. The goal of this study is to highlight the decision processe Read More

Identifying biological and clinical markers of treatment response in depression is an area of intense research that holds promise for increasing the efficiency and efficacy of resolving a major depressive episode and preventing future episodes. Collateral benefits include decreased healthcare costs and increased workplace productivity. Despite research advances in many areas, efforts to identify biomarkers have not revealed Read More