Stopping Antidepressants Doubles Relapse Risk, Study Finds

Patients with depression treated in primary care practices in the United Kingdom who felt well enough to consider stopping their antidepressants were twice as likely to relapse within 52 weeks if they discontinued their medication as those who continued to take it, according to astudy published today inThe New England Journal of Medicine.The study, led by Gemma Lewis, Ph.D., of University College London and colleagues, involved 478 patients aged 18 to 74 years who had at least two prior episodes of depression or had been taking antidepressants for more than two years. “All the patients had been receiving and adhering to a daily regimen of 20 mg of citalopram, 100 mg of sertraline, 20 mg of fluoxetine, or 30 mg of mirtazapine for at least 9 months, had recovered from their most recent depressive episode, and felt well enough to consider stopping antidepressants, ” Lewis and colleagues wrote.The participants were randomly assigned to continue their current antidepressant therapy (maintenance group) or taper off their therapy over two months (discontinuation group). They did not know what group they had been assigned to until the end of the study. The study participants completed a battery of questionnaires at follow-ups (by mail at six weeks and face-to-face interviews at 12, 26, 39, and 52 weeks) that assessed mood, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, physical side effects, withdrawal symptoms, and quality of life.At 52 weeks, relapse had occurred in 39% of the particip...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: antidepressants citalopram depression discontinuation fluoxetine mirtazapine New England Journal of Medicine relapse sertraline Source Type: research