Most patients with depression experience drug side effects to start with

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Side effects, rather than efficacy, drive choice of antidepressants according to a new review.
Antidepressant therapy can be useful in treating depression, but are often linked to a range of side effects. Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill now report on a comparison study between 12 commonly prescribed antidepressants.

They found efficacy was broadly similar between the different drugs. What varied was the side effects, which tended to include constipation, diarrhea, dizziness, headache, insomnia and vomiting. Sixty one per cent of patients experienced at least one side effect. This led to only 60 per cent responding to the first drug they tried; the rest needed to try more than one drug before experiencing an improvement in their depression. The researchers are working on ways of using a patient's genetic profile to try to work out which antidepressant might have the fewest side effects. This individualized approach could bring relief from depression sooner, as a patient would start off on the drug best suited to them.

Source
Agency for Healthcare Quality Research 24th January 2007

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