Sertraline in the treatment of depressive disorders in patients with Parkinson’s disease

Abstract

We studied 54 idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with depressive disorders (DD) to compare the efficacy and the effect of treatment with sertraline in the usual formulation and in the liquid oral concentrate (LOC) formulation. After 6 months of sertraline treatment, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and the Montgomery and Asberg Depression Rating Scale showed a decrement (p<0.001, for both formulations). Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire scores improved (p<0.005 for usual formulation and p<0.001 for LOC formulation), as did Clinical Global Impression-Severity of Illness scale and Clinical Global Impression-Global Improvement scale scores (p=0.1, for both formulations). Mini Mental State Examination and Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale motor subscores did not change. These results suggest that sertraline LOC may also be a useful treatment for DD in PD patients, especially for those with swallowing problems, and have significant benefit for quality of life, without worsening of parkinsonian features.

Monoamine Reuptake Inhibitors in Parkinson’s Disease

“…In a 6-month open-label, randomised trial, sertraline liquid formulation was compared to sertraline regular formulation in 54 depressed PD patients [307]. Both formulations were equally effective at improving the Turkish-HDRS and Turkish-MADRS scores.…”

Psychiatric Care in Parkinson’s Disease

“…19,39,50,51 Sertraline liquid oral concentrate may also be a useful treatment for depression in patients with PD, especially for those who have difficulty swallowing. 52 Citalopram. One double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study and two open-label studies have suggested that citalopram has beneficial effects in treating depression in patients with PD, with a good tolerability profile.…”

Prevalence of depression and receipt of antidepressant pharmacotherapy among patients with Parkinson&rsquo;s disease: a national assessment of US office-based physician visits

“…14 However, recent data have shown that antidepressant use in PD has rendered motor impairment either unchanged [15][16][17][18][19] or significantly improved, 20 as measured by the motor portion of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale. A previous study by Sclar et al, which assessed US physician office-based care provided to patients with PD from 1990 to 1995, found that depression was diagnosed in only 4.1% of physician office visits.…”