Anxiety in Older Adults With MDD on Venlafaxine Doesn ’t Reduce Chance of Remission, Study Finds

The presence of comorbid anxiety symptoms does not appear to predict the likelihood that older patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) will respond to the antidepressant venlafaxine, according to astudy inDepression& Anxiety.“[R]emission of depression was just as likely in more and less anxious participants,” Yasmina M. Saade, M.D., of Washington University in St. Louis and colleagues wrote.Previous studies show that older depressed adults with comorbid anxiety often have more severe depression symptoms and cognitive decline and are at greater risk of suicide compared with older depressed adults without anxiety. To examine whether comorbid anxiety influences response to treatment in older adults, Saade and colleagues analyzed data from the Incomplete Response in Late ‐Life Depression: Getting to Remission (IRL‐GRey) study, a large prospective antidepressant trial.For the first phase of the IRL-GRey study, 468 adults aged 60 years or older with MDD received open ‐label treatment with venlafaxine extended release, a selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor. The participants were started at a dose of 37.5 mg/day and titrated up to 300 mg/day if they did not go into remission. Those who were taking a previously prescribed low-dose benzodiaze pine were permitted to continue its use. Before starting on venlafaxine, the researchers evaluated the participants using Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), the Brief Symptom Inventory anx...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: anxiety depression & IRL ‐GRey study MADRS MDD older adults suicide ideation Venlafaxine Yasmina M. Saade Source Type: research