The relationship of MRI subcortical hyperintensities to treatment response in a trial of sertraline in geriatric depressed outpatients

Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2002 Jan-Feb;10(1):107-11.

Abstract

The authors examined differences in antidepressant treatment response in geriatric outpatients with high vs. low levels of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-defined subcortical hyperintensities (SH). Participants included 59 outpatients with mild-to-moderate depression (mean age: 69+/-5.63 years; mean Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression score: 21+/-2.88) who participated in a placebo-controlled trial of sertraline and underwent a standardized brain MRI. Results revealed that the high-SH group was significantly older than the low-SH group but, contrary to the hypothesis, antidepressant treatment response did not differ between the high- and low-SH groups. The association between SH and antidepressant treatment response in depressed geriatric outpatients remains unclear and deserves further investigation.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Multicenter Study
  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Age Factors
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Antidepressive Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Brain / drug effects*
  • Brain / pathology*
  • Depressive Disorder, Major / drug therapy*
  • Depressive Disorder, Major / pathology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Sertraline / therapeutic use*
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Antidepressive Agents
  • Sertraline