Report from the 163rd annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, New Orleans LA, May 22-26, 2010 – Two studies have examined the effectiveness and side effect profile of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in patients with mood disorders.
Psychiatry
Do antidepressants protect against relapses: 2 reports
September 29, 2010Report from the 163rd annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, New Orleans LA, May 22-26, 2010 – Two recent reports suggest that maintenance antidepressants have limited efficacy in preventing relapses in patients with major depressive disorder.
Mirtazapine safety reporting in depression: meta-analysis
September 1, 2010A systematic review of mirtazapine treatment trials has found that there is inadequate reporting of adverse events in therapeutic trials of major depression (Watanabe et al. CNS Drugs 2010; 24: 35-53).
Treating late-life depression benefits caregivers
August 18, 2010A U.S. study reports that the beneficial effects of treating depression in older patients extend to caregivers (Martire et al. J Am Geriatr Soc 2010; 58: 23-29; free full text at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2872092/?tool=pubmed).
Comorbidity common in epilepsy
July 21, 2010REPORT FROM THE AAN, APRIL 10-17, 2010 – The National Survey of Epilepsy, Comorbidities and Health Outcomes (EPIC) sent surveys to 340,000 households in the U.S. in 2008. Information was collected on epilepsy and other disorders from 172,959 respondents.