Integral Assessment in Unipolar Depression (AIUNI)

December 10, 2015 updated by: Ricardo Alberto Moreno, M.D., Ph.D., University of Sao Paulo

THE AIUNI - Integral Assessment in Unipolar Depression

The objective of this project is to assess the occurrence of early improvement within the first two weeks of antidepressant treatment and to correlate this improvement with favorable therapeutic outcome at the end of the acute and treatment continuation phases (8 and 24 weeks, respectively).

Study Overview

Status

Unknown

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

An ongoing debate, as long-running as treatment with antidepressants itself, is the delay in response to these drugs. Antidepressant drugs take 2 to 4 weeks to produce the treatment response effect (at least 50% improvement in depressive symptoms versus baseline levels). This delay in antidepressant response can prove highly problematic since, during this interim period, the patient is exposed to the suffering, debilitative effects, direct and indirect costs and risks associated with major depressive disorder (MDD).

Another important issue is when to define failure of a therapeutic trial and how to change treatment. Between 30 and 50% of MDD patients fail to respond to adequate first-line treatment. If favorable outcome is defined as full remission (as opposed to only 50% improvement) of the patient, the failure rate during first trial is greater still. Some reviews recommend dose adjustments every two weeks and a 4-8 week wait before treatment change for poor response. Despite these recommendations, the question over when and how to change treatment strategy warrants further debate.

Early improvement in antidepressant treatment is desirable because it reduces the suffering, losses and costs associated with MDD. In addition, the risk of suicidal ideation or committing suicide are reduced in patients presenting early improvement of depressive symptoms. However, early improvement not only reduces risk but also predicts outcome at the end of the acute phase of treatment. A number of studies investigating different antidepressants have shown that the presence of early response is a good predictor of favorable outcome at the end of the acute phase of treatment (after 6 or 8 weeks of treatment). A meta-analysis reviewing 41 simple or double-blind clinical trials included a total of 6562 patients.

Early improvement, defined as a 20% reduction in score on the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD-17) within 2 weeks, was associated with sustained response, remission (defined as HAM-D-17 score ≤7). While early response has been amply demonstrated in numerous clinical trials, there are gaps in knowledge on the subject. Scant studies have documented whether there are differences in the pattern of early improvement among different antidepressants. Similarly, there is a dearth of studies analyzing whether the presence or otherwise of early response has the same predictive value for different antidepressants. Another little explored aspect is the arbitrary nature of the criteria defining onset of improvement, early improvement, treatment response and symptomatological remission. Studies tend to reproduce previously-adopted criteria without elaborating on the exploratory analyses justifying the cut-off points adopted.

The aim of the present study is to assess the presence of early improvement after one and two weeks of treatment with sertraline. Besides assessing the presence of early response, the study will include an exploratory analysis assessing positive and negative predictive values, sensitivity and specificity of early improvement as a predictor of sustained response and remission after 6, 8 and 24 weeks of treatment.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

100

Phase

  • Phase 4

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Brazil
      • São Paulo, Brazil
        • Recruiting
        • Insitute of Psychiatry of the University of São Paulo
        • Contact:
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients Presenting Depressive Episode according to DSM-IV-TR

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients presenting: psychotic symptoms, Axis 1 comorbidities (except specific phobia, specific social phobia and nicotine dependence) or risk of suicide (defined as score = 3 on item 3 of the 17-item HAMD or at the discretion of rater);
  • Other exclusion criteria are having a serious or unstable medical condition, including cardiovascular, hepatic, endocrinologic, neurological or renal conditions.
  • Clinically significant abnormalities on laboratory or ECG exams or those which, in the investigator ́s opinion, indicate a serious medical issue, require a major intervention or may interfere in the antidepressant treatment, also constitute grounds for exclusion.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Sertraline
Patients using Sertraline with any dose will be evaluated about Early Improvement
Drug: Sertraline
Treatment
Other Names:
  • Early Improvement

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Early Improvement
Time Frame: 2 Weeks
20% reduction of baseline score on the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD-17)
2 Weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Response
Time Frame: 4 and 8 weeks
50% reductions of baseline score on the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD-17)
4 and 8 weeks
Remission
Time Frame: 8 and 24 weeks
Score less than 7 points on the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD-17)
8 and 24 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Sao Paulo

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Moreno A Ricardo, PhD, University of Sao Paulo

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

January 1, 2014

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

January 1, 2017

Study Completion (Anticipated)

January 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 8, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 17, 2014

First Posted (Estimate)

October 20, 2014

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

December 11, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 10, 2015

Last Verified

December 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 795996

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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