Korean J Psychopharmacol.  2006 Nov;17(6):550-556.

The Rate and Risk Factors of Early Discontinuation of Antidepressant Treatment in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder

• Lee KU
• Kim W
• Min KJ
• Shin YC
• Chung SK
• Bahk WM

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
Although clinical guidelines for major depressive disorder (MDD) recommended sufficient duration of treatment, many patients discontinue antidepressant medication early in the course of treatment in clinical practice. In this study, we investigated the rate of early treatment-discontinuation and risk factors related to the discontinuation.
METHODS
Medical records of 400 outpatients were reviewed. Patients who were diagnosed as MDD according to the DSM-IV criteria and were prescribed a single antidepressant were included in this study. Information on age, sex, education, marital status, job, disease recurrence, clinical severity and type of antidepressant medications were obtained. The rate of early treatment-discontinuation and factors leading to early discontinuation were also investigated.
RESULTS
Data of 354 patients were analyzed. Mean age was 50.6+/-15.9 years and female patients were 225 (63.6%). Treatment-discontinuation rate was 29.1% at 2 weeks and 43.5% at 6 weeks. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that severity of depression decreased the risk of treatment-discontinuation at 2 weeks. Other clinical factors and type of antidepressant medications did not affect the risk of early treatment-discontinuation.
CONCLUSION
This study shows that the rate of early treatment-discontinuation is high in patients with MDD in usual clinical practice. Considering chronicity and high relapse rate of MDD, education programs to enhance drug compliance in patients and their family are needed to reduce early treatment-discontinuation in MDD patients.

Keyword

Major depressive disorder; Antidepressant; Early treatment-discontinuation

MeSH Terms

Female
Humans
Risk Factors