Pathogenesis, clinical features, and treatments of depression in Parkinson's disease

The prevalence of depression in Parkinson's disease (PD) amounts to as much as 90%. The paper describes patients at different ages and with different durations of PD in its early and advanced stages and with various types of depressive disorder.The described clinical cases show that depression substantially worsens quality of life in a patient with PD and makes it difficult to choose antiparkinsonian therapy. Depression remains unrecognized on average in half of patients, while only a quarter of patients with identified depression receive timely treatment with antidepressants. PD complicated by depression is characterized by a faster progression and more significantly impaired quality of life and cognitive status than PD without affective disorders. Patients with PD and depressive disorder are characterized by an insufficient response to standard doses of antiparkinsonian drugs, which often leads to an irrational increase in the dose of dopaminergic drugs and to the development of complications.Difficulties in choosing an antidepressant for PD are associated with the development of a complex multicomponent neurotransmitter imbalance in this disease. The prescription of multimodal antidepressants can solve this problem.It is necessary to timely detect and correct depression in patients with PD using the currently available drugs and nonpharmacological methods (psychotherapy and physical rehabilitation).

The use of vortioxetine for the correction of depression in Parkinson's disease: an example of clinical cases

Miliukhina

2019

Depression and dementia: differentiation and comorbidity

Lobzin

Emelin

2020

The relationship between cognitive impairment (CI) and depression is complicated: h\the latter can be one of the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease or may precede the onset of CI. Depression also has cognitive symptoms that alter the clinical presentation of the disease. Patients with depressive pseudodementia experience difficulties concentrating, confusion concurrent with impaired memory and thinking, whereas the patient’s answers to certain questions often resemble the vague pseudoamnestic pattern of the impairment. Mnestic disorders occur in at least 40% of patients with depression, and if the latter is diagnosed in the patient who already has dementia, the rate of cognitive decline may be faster. The mechanisms underlying the development of CI can also affect the development of depression. When assessing the risk of dementia in depression, it is necessary to take into account the time from the onset of a major depressive episode until moderate CI appears, to carry out a detailed analysis of neuropsychological testing for Alzheimer’s disease and to use the current lifetime markers for amyloidosis and neurodegeneration. Serotonergic antidepressants and non-pharmacological cognitive behavioral and psychotherapeutic procedures play the most important role in the treatment of depression and dementia.

The use of vortioxetine for depression in patients with Parkinson's disease in the early and advanced stages of the disease

Miliukhina

2020

Depression is one of the most common non-motor manifestations of Parkinson's disease (PD), which largely determines both the severity of the course of the disease and the life expectancy of patients, as well as the compliance of patients to and the efficiency of antiparkinsonian therapy. In this connection, the search for a safe and effective antidepressant for patients with PD is of particular relevance.Objective: to evaluate the efficacy and safety of vortioxetine in patients with PD complicated by mild to moderate depression.Patients and methods. Examinations were made in 150 patients with PD in its early and advanced stages (Hoehn-Yahr stages: 1.0 to 3.0). All the patients were treated with vortioxetine at a dose of 15 or 20 mg/day for 8 months. The investigators used clinical and psychopathological rating scales, such as the Hospital Depression Scale (HADS-D), the Hospital Anxiety Scale (HADS-A), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). The severity of PD motor manifestations was assessed according to the Unified PD Rating Scale (UPDRS) Part III.Results and discussion. During the follow-up period corresponding to 12 weeks of vortioxetine use, all the patients showed a significant decrease in MARDS, HADS-A and HADS-D, and BDI scores for depression and anxiety (p < 0.001). Vortioxetine demonstrated an optimal balance between tolerability and clinical efficacy in correcting affective disorders in this patient group. In addition, analysis of the dynamics of motor disorders yielded data on the improvement of movement functions while correcting depression as lower UPDRS Part III total scores (p < 0.001).Conclusion. The findings suggest that vortioxetine has a significant effect on depression and anxiety in patients with PD in its early and advanced stages, good tolerability, and a rapid-onset effect.