Antidepressants fail on half of older men -Australia

[Guest guest]

http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/antidepressants-fail-on-half-of-older-men-20100629-zh9c.html

Antidepressants fail

on half of older men

KATHERINE FENECH

June 29, 2010

More than half of older men using antidepressants to battle

depression do not register any improvement and have a greater risk of

dying, a WA study has found.

The University of Western Australia research found men who didn't

get any relief from antidepressants had a "substantially" higher risk

of dying than men whose depression treatment was successful.

The study, published in the online medical and scientific research

journal PLoS-One, is based on a decade of monitoring the health and

lifestyles of more than 5000 Perth men aged over 68.

Lead author and Western Australian Centre for Health and Ageing

research director Professor Osvaldo Almeida said the results indicated

more needed to be done to improve current treatments.

"This is a big issue, not only because depression causes significant

personal suffering and disability, but also because our results show

that these men are also more likely to die," Professor Almeida said.

"We found that older men who were using antidepressants but remained

depressed had a substantially higher mortality risk."

"However, men using antidepressants who were free of depressive

symptoms had a similar mortality risk over 10 years as the rest of the

population."

Researchers used the widely-recognised Geriatric Depression Scale to

determine the depression levels of patients.

The mortality rate increased with the severity of depressive

symptoms, while the causes of death differed between the two groups.

Cardiovascular diseases are more prevalent amongst those with mild

to severe depression and there is a slightly higher rate of cancer

amongst men with no depression.

"That might be because the depression might be leading to

physiological changes,'' he said.

"With depression being such a disabling condition it's very

disappointing that we haven't been able to develop better treatments

for patients."

The team is currently running two studies on optimising responses to

antidepressant treatment, including the effects of physical activity

and social interaction.

"There is now compelling evidence that if people become more

socially engaged and physically active that's a good thing and we

should be definitely been encouraging that," he said.

[Guest guest]

http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/antidepressants-fail-on-half-of-older-men-20100629-zh9c.html

Antidepressants fail

on half of older men

KATHERINE FENECH

June 29, 2010

More than half of older men using antidepressants to battle

depression do not register any improvement and have a greater risk of

dying, a WA study has found.

The University of Western Australia research found men who didn't

get any relief from antidepressants had a "substantially" higher risk

of dying than men whose depression treatment was successful.

The study, published in the online medical and scientific research

journal PLoS-One, is based on a decade of monitoring the health and

lifestyles of more than 5000 Perth men aged over 68.

Lead author and Western Australian Centre for Health and Ageing

research director Professor Osvaldo Almeida said the results indicated

more needed to be done to improve current treatments.

"This is a big issue, not only because depression causes significant

personal suffering and disability, but also because our results show

that these men are also more likely to die," Professor Almeida said.

"We found that older men who were using antidepressants but remained

depressed had a substantially higher mortality risk."

"However, men using antidepressants who were free of depressive

symptoms had a similar mortality risk over 10 years as the rest of the

population."

Researchers used the widely-recognised Geriatric Depression Scale to

determine the depression levels of patients.

The mortality rate increased with the severity of depressive

symptoms, while the causes of death differed between the two groups.

Cardiovascular diseases are more prevalent amongst those with mild

to severe depression and there is a slightly higher rate of cancer

amongst men with no depression.

"That might be because the depression might be leading to

physiological changes,'' he said.

"With depression being such a disabling condition it's very

disappointing that we haven't been able to develop better treatments

for patients."

The team is currently running two studies on optimising responses to

antidepressant treatment, including the effects of physical activity

and social interaction.

"There is now compelling evidence that if people become more

socially engaged and physically active that's a good thing and we

should be definitely been encouraging that," he said.

[Guest guest]

http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/antidepressants-fail-on-half-of-older-men-20100629-zh9c.html

Antidepressants fail

on half of older men

KATHERINE FENECH

June 29, 2010

More than half of older men using antidepressants to battle

depression do not register any improvement and have a greater risk of

dying, a WA study has found.

The University of Western Australia research found men who didn't

get any relief from antidepressants had a "substantially" higher risk

of dying than men whose depression treatment was successful.

The study, published in the online medical and scientific research

journal PLoS-One, is based on a decade of monitoring the health and

lifestyles of more than 5000 Perth men aged over 68.

Lead author and Western Australian Centre for Health and Ageing

research director Professor Osvaldo Almeida said the results indicated

more needed to be done to improve current treatments.

"This is a big issue, not only because depression causes significant

personal suffering and disability, but also because our results show

that these men are also more likely to die," Professor Almeida said.

"We found that older men who were using antidepressants but remained

depressed had a substantially higher mortality risk."

"However, men using antidepressants who were free of depressive

symptoms had a similar mortality risk over 10 years as the rest of the

population."

Researchers used the widely-recognised Geriatric Depression Scale to

determine the depression levels of patients.

The mortality rate increased with the severity of depressive

symptoms, while the causes of death differed between the two groups.

Cardiovascular diseases are more prevalent amongst those with mild

to severe depression and there is a slightly higher rate of cancer

amongst men with no depression.

"That might be because the depression might be leading to

physiological changes,'' he said.

"With depression being such a disabling condition it's very

disappointing that we haven't been able to develop better treatments

for patients."

The team is currently running two studies on optimising responses to

antidepressant treatment, including the effects of physical activity

and social interaction.

"There is now compelling evidence that if people become more

socially engaged and physically active that's a good thing and we

should be definitely been encouraging that," he said.

[Guest guest]

http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/antidepressants-fail-on-half-of-older-men-20100629-zh9c.html

Antidepressants fail

on half of older men

KATHERINE FENECH

June 29, 2010

More than half of older men using antidepressants to battle

depression do not register any improvement and have a greater risk of

dying, a WA study has found.

The University of Western Australia research found men who didn't

get any relief from antidepressants had a "substantially" higher risk

of dying than men whose depression treatment was successful.

The study, published in the online medical and scientific research

journal PLoS-One, is based on a decade of monitoring the health and

lifestyles of more than 5000 Perth men aged over 68.

Lead author and Western Australian Centre for Health and Ageing

research director Professor Osvaldo Almeida said the results indicated

more needed to be done to improve current treatments.

"This is a big issue, not only because depression causes significant

personal suffering and disability, but also because our results show

that these men are also more likely to die," Professor Almeida said.

"We found that older men who were using antidepressants but remained

depressed had a substantially higher mortality risk."

"However, men using antidepressants who were free of depressive

symptoms had a similar mortality risk over 10 years as the rest of the

population."

Researchers used the widely-recognised Geriatric Depression Scale to

determine the depression levels of patients.

The mortality rate increased with the severity of depressive

symptoms, while the causes of death differed between the two groups.

Cardiovascular diseases are more prevalent amongst those with mild

to severe depression and there is a slightly higher rate of cancer

amongst men with no depression.

"That might be because the depression might be leading to

physiological changes,'' he said.

"With depression being such a disabling condition it's very

disappointing that we haven't been able to develop better treatments

for patients."

The team is currently running two studies on optimising responses to

antidepressant treatment, including the effects of physical activity

and social interaction.

"There is now compelling evidence that if people become more

socially engaged and physically active that's a good thing and we

should be definitely been encouraging that," he said.