The authors examined the 4-year outcome of elderly patients who were given open-label
maintenance treatment for recurrent depression. Thirty-eight patients, age 60 years
or older, who had recovered from an episode of recurrent nonpsychotic unipolar major
depression were maintained on full-dose antidepressant medication and, if necessary,
adjunctive lithium. They were followed on a regular basis for 4 years or until recurrence,
whichever occurred first. The cumulative probability of remaining well without recurrence
was 70%. Longer time to respond to treatment and higher anxiety scores at the time
of response predicted shorter time to recurrence.
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
April 6,
1999
Received in revised form:
February 10,
1999
Received:
December 15,
1998
Footnotes
The authors thank Joan Edwards, Mary Knickle, and Paul Miceli for their assistance with this research.
This work was supported in part by The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Research Institute.
Identification
Copyright
© 2000 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
