A Double‐Blind Clinical Trial of Alprazolam,Imipramine, or Placebo in the Depressed Elderly
作者:
MYRNA WEISSMAN,
BRIGITTE PRUSOFF,
ALAN SHOLOMSKAS,
STEVEN GREENWALD,
期刊:
Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology
(OVID Available online 1992)
卷期:
Volume 12,
issue 3
页码: 175-182
ISSN:0271-0749
年代: 1992
出版商: OVID
数据来源: OVID
摘要:
The efficacy and safety of alprazolam as compared to imipramine or a placebo added to weekly interpersonal psychotherapy was compared in a 6-week double-blind randomized clinical trial of 35 ambulatory elderly patients with major depression. The average maximum dosage of alprazolam was 2.2 mg and the average maximum dosage of imipramine was 97.5 mg. The findings showed a rapid onset of action of alprazolam within 1 week on symptoms of depression and anxiety. The effects for imipramine were seen later in the study. There were no serious side effects that interfered with treatment. The anticholinergic effects of imipramine were the ones that most commonly interfered with treatment. Alprazolam produced the greatest number of symptoms with discontinuation, most of which were alleviated within a week. We conclude that alprazolam may be useful as an antidepressant for the elderly. More clinical trials are needed to test its efficacy in the depressed elderly with concomitant medical problems, using plasma levels. A double-blind discontinuation study of alprazolam is needed to determine the degree of symptom return.
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