Table 1.
Clinical characteristics of groups with and without discontinuation symptoms after vortioxetine therapy.
| KERRYPNX | Patients without Vortioxetine Discontinuation Symptoms (n = 255) | Patients with Vortioxetine Discontinuation Symptoms (n = 8) | p |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age (median number of years, (25th percentile–75th percentile)) | 39 (30–51) | 31 (27–52.8) | pMann–Whitney = 0.326 |
| Sex (women/men) | 143/112 | 5/3 | pFisher’s exact test > 0.999 |
| Therapy (% of patients with monotherapy) | 23.5% | 62.5% | pFisher’s exact test = 0.024 |
| Vortioxetine dose (mean mg, (SD)) | 10.58 (2.38) | 11.25 (2.32) | pMann–Whitney = 0.057 |
| Somatic comorbidities (%) | 20% | 37.5% | pFisher’s exact test = 0.212 |
| Number of psychiatric comorbidities | pFisher’s exact test = 0.947 | ||
| 0 | 36.9% | 50% | |
| 1 | 36.1% | 37.5% | |
| 2 | 19.6% | 12.5% | |
| 3 | 5.9% | 0% | |
| 4 | 1.6% | 0% | |
| Comorbid anxiety disorders (% of patients) | 42% | 50% | PFisher’s exact test = 0.725 |
| Days of pharmacotherapy prior to discontinuation (median number of days, (25th percentile–75th percentile)) | 74 (38.8–170.3) | 272 (71–375) | pMann–Whitney = 0.032 |
| Discontinuing: gradual or sudden (n, (%) of sudden) | 208 (81.6%) | 5 (62.5%) | pFisher’s exact test = 0.179 |
| Discontinuing: with or without prior medical advice (n, (%) of without) | 47 (18.4%) | 5 (62. 5%) | pFisher’s exact test = 0.009 * |
| Reason for discontinuation (n, (%)) | pFFH < 0.001 * | ||
| Side effects | 40 (17.3%) | 1 (14.3%) | |
| Lack of effectiveness | 135 (58.4%) | 0 (0%) | |
| Symptomatic improvement/remission | 32 (13.9%) | 2 (28.5%) | |
| Accidental discontinuation | 2 (0.9%) | 4 (57.1%) | |
| Others | 22 (9.5%) | 0 (0%) | |
| Switch to different antidepressant medication (n, (%)) | pFisher’s exact test = 0.003 * | ||
| SSRI | 134 (52.5%) | 0 (0%) | |
| Other | 37 (14.5%) | 2 (25%) | |
| No switch | 69 (27%) | 6 (75%) | |
| Median DESS score (range) | 4 (4–6) | ||
| Median number of days between vortioxetine withdrawal and emergence of DS (n, (25th percentile–75th percentile)) | - | 3 (1.25–4.75) |
FFH, Fisher–Freeman–Halton’s Test; DESS, Discontinuation-Emergent Signs and Symptoms inventory. DS, discontinuation symptoms. *, comparisons that remained statistically significant after implementing false discovery rate (FDR) p-value correction with Benjamin–Hochberg procedure for multiple comparisons.