Short-lived Depressive Symptoms in Teens Lead Scientists to Re-examine Antidepressant Evaluation Methods

A study published in the September issue of the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology showed that the the short duration of depressive symptoms in teens makes it difficult to gauge the efficacy of antidepressants versus placebos.

In a naturalistic study of 66 adolescents hospitalized for depression, 34 (52%) showed symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD) one day after admission. By the second day however, this number dropped to 8 (12%). Furthermore, at subsequent weekly evaluations only 2 (0.6%) of the original 34 subjects showing MDD symptoms continued to meet criteria for MDD.

Authors of the study suggest that this short-term persistence of depressive symptoms shown by the majority of adolescent subjects means that a multigated assessment procedure should be employed before randomizing subjects in antidepressant clinical trials. This way those who recover spontaneously in a quick amount of time would neither affect clinical results nor be subjected to unnecessary long-term medication and possible side effects.

Read more: Impersistence of Depression in Youth: Implications for Drug Study Design (PDF)