Rothschild 2004b.
Study characteristics | ||
Methods | Randomised, double‐blind comparison Random assignment was 2:2:1 for olanzapine, placebo, and olanzapine fluoxetine combination, respectively | |
Participants | 124 participants. DSM‐IV diagnosis (unclear how) Major depression with psychotic features Inpatients for at least 1 week. No data about prior treatment for current episode | |
Interventions | 2004a: olanzapine (5 to 20 mg, clinically titrated; mean 11.9 mg) vs olanzapine (5 to 20 mg, clinically titrated; mean 12.4 mg) plus fluoxetine (20 to 80 mg, clinically titrated; mean 23.5 mg) vs placebo 2004b: same procedure: olanzapine (mean 14.0 mg) vs olanzapine (mean 13.9 mg) plus fluoxetine (mean 22.6 mg) 3 to 9 days' screening; probably no washout period Treatment period: 8 weeks Additional medication: 30 mg a day diazepam equivalent for no more than 5 consecutive days or 10 cumulative days |
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Outcomes | Dichotomous data: study author defined: response is reduction in HAMD‐24 ≥ 50% at endpoint. Remission is HAMD‐24 ≤ 8 for 2 consecutive visits Continuous data: symptom reduction: no ITT data; global response: no ITT data; QOL: no data Overall dropout rate: yes Dropout due to adverse effects: no ITT data Mortality rate: probably 0 | |
Notes | Washout unclear
23 investigators randomly assigned at least 1 participant. Excluded patient characteristics not described
Dropouts in study "a": 28%; lost before baseline + 1 visit: 7% (were excluded from results; included in our data); 24% in study "a" are LOCF (last observation carried forward; in our data not counted as dropouts). Some of these LOCFs are counted as responders; total non‐completers (LOCF included) 28 + 7 + 24 = 59% Dropouts in study "b": 38%; lost before baseline + 1 visit: 9% (were excluded from results; included in our data); LOCF in study "b": 6%; total non‐completers 28 + 9 + 6 = 53% Completers in study "a": 41%; in study "b": 47% |
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Risk of bias | ||
Bias | Authors' judgement | Support for judgement |
Random sequence generation (selection bias) | Unclear risk | As reported: "patients were randomly allocated"; no further information |
Allocation concealment (selection bias) | Unclear risk | As reported: "patients were randomly allocated"; no further information |
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) of participants | Low risk | As reported: "double blind therapy. Dose adjustments in all study arms with 'capsules' (assuming identical capsules because the study is double blind)" |
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) of personnel | Low risk | As reported: "double blind therapy" |
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) of outcome assessors | Unclear risk | No explicit information |
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes | Unclear risk | Dropouts described in general terms. Very high dropout rate |
Selective reporting (reporting bias) | Unclear risk | No protocol available. According to study authors, the olanzapine‐fluoxetine group was designed as a exploratory pilot arm. However, in the conclusions, it is stated that an olanzapine/fluoxetine combination was well‐tolerated treatment associated with significant and quick reduction in depressive (and psychotic) symptoms in 1 trial. With ITT data, this difference is seen in 1 study to be not statistically significant, and in the other study, to be barely significant. Pooling of these 2 studies would result in no significance. Study authors discuss as a limitation the absence of a fluoxetine arm. They state that they cannot rule out that the effect of fluoxetine/olanzapine was due to fluoxetine. So this should have been mentioned in the conclusion |
Other bias | High risk | High dropout rate of 47.2% reduces the internal validity of the study High placebo response is contradictory to the literature |