Posted by Cecilia on January 6, 2008, at 4:41:25
In reply to Re: STAR*D confirmed what patients already knew » Cecilia, posted by Larry Hoover on January 5, 2008, at 13:08:41
> > The other thing I don't understand about the study is where they found these depressed people who hadn't already tried these very common drugs already. They certainly didn't include anybody with chronic depression or they would have already tried them. So they probably got much better results than in the "real world". Cecilia
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> The only exclusion factor with respect to the medications in levels 1 and 2 of this study was: "a clear history of nonresponse or intolerance (in the current major depressive episode) to any protocol antidepressant in the first two treatment steps ." Not never used, only not failed use in this actual depressive event. If you read the study demographics, you'll see that the majority of subjects were chronic recurrent depressives.
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> The design of this study was absolutely "real world". Subjects were simply individuals who presented to their doctor, seeking treatment for depression. Comorbid medical conditions, past history of drug failure, yadda yadda, did not prevent enrollment. The exclusion factors were really quite limited. Again, reading the study methodology would answer these questions.
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> Here's one such link:
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> http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/ajp;163/1/28
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> LarPerhaps they would be accepted into the study regardless of previous drug trials, but why on earth would anyone enter a study where they knew they would just be offered the same drugs they had already failed or couldn't tolerate-makes no sense. Cecilia
poster:Cecilia
thread:804126
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080105/msgs/804600.html