Table 3.
Treatment of psychiatric patients with depressive disorders during an eight-week follow-up (n = 107)
| All patients n = 107 N (%)a |
TRD n = 20b N (%) |
non-TRD n = 87 N (%) |
p-value* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Follow-up appointments | ||||
| - Psychiatrist (A) | 73 (68.2) | 13 (65) | 60 (69) | 0.963c |
| - Other health care worker (B) | 74 (69.2) | 13 (65) | 61 (70.1) | 0.884c |
| - Any appointment overall (A, B, or A + B) | 94 (87.9) | 17 (85) | 77 (88.5) | 1d |
| - No follow-up appointments | 12 (11.2) | 2 (10) | 10 (11.5) | |
| Psychotherapy and other treatment sessions | ||||
| - Psychotherapy | 14 (13.1) | 4 (20) | 10 (11.5) | |
| - Supportive meetings at another service provider | 64 (59.8) | 14 (70) | 50 (57.5) | |
| - Family meetings | 1 (0.9) | 0 | 1 (1.1) | |
| - Group counselling | 5 (4.7) | 0 | 5 (5.7) | |
| - Visits at occupational health care unit | 2 (1.9) | 1 (5) | 1 (1.1) | |
| Use of antidepressants (ADs) at eight weeks | ||||
| Patients using ADs (ntot for AD use): | 97 (90.7) | 18 (90) | 79 (90.8) | 1d |
| - using AD monotherapy only | 67 (69.1) | 14 (77.8) | 53 (67.1) | |
| - using a combination of ADs | 30 (30.9) | 4 (22.2) | 26 (32.9) | 0.439c |
| - AD dosage compatible with Finnish DCG recommendations for a therapeutic dose | 91 (93.8) | 18 (100) | 73 (92.4) | 0.298d |
| Did the patient continue using the index AD prescribed at BL until eight weeks? | ||||
| - Yes, used index AD as only AD | 50 (51.5) | 10 (55.6) | 40 (50.6) | |
| - Yes, used index AD in combination with other AD(s) | 27 (25.2) | 3 (16.7) | 24 (30.4) | |
| - No, index AD switched to another AD, which was used alone or combined with other AD(s) | 15 (15.5) | 4 (22.2) | 11 (13.2) | |
| - No, index AD terminated, patient continued using previously prescribed AD(s) | 5 (4.7) | 1 (5.6) | 4 (5.1) | |
| - No, all ADs terminated | 8 (7.5) | 1 (5.6) | 7 (8.9) | |
| - No, never started using the index AD and not using any other AD | 1 (0.9) | 0 | 1 (1.3) | |
| Augmentation pharmacotherapy (combined with ADs) | 1d | |||
| - Atypical antipsychotic (AA) (quetiapine, minimum 50 mg/day) | 9 (9.3) | 1 (5.6) | 8 (10.1) | 1d |
| - Mood stabilizer (lamotrigine) | 1 (1.0) | 0 | 1 (1.3) | |
| Monotherapy: using one AD or one AA only (quetiapine ≥ 50 mg/day) | 62 (58.0) | |||
| ECT during follow-up (n = 107) | 1 (0.9) | 0 | 1 (1.5) | |
| New hospitalization during follow-up (n = 107) | 2 (1.9) | 0 | 2 (2.3) | |
AD, antidepressant; index AD, antidepressant assigned to study patient at baseline; AA, atypical antipsychotic; ECT, electroconvulsive therapy; BL, baseline; TRD, patient classified with treatment-resistant depression at baseline; non-TRD, patient classified as not having treatment-resistant depression at baseline
aMissing data for 1/107 patients (0.9%)
bMissing data for 1/20 TRD patients (5%)
cChi-square test
dFisher exact test
*TRD vs. non-TRD