Active clinical trials for "Depressive Disorder"

Major depression is accompanied by cognitive changes as well as alterations in multiple physical functions. The inflammatory system is altered generally toward a pro-inflammatory state. Antidepressants are associated with a decrease in this proinflammatory state. This study aims to generate pilot data concerning a possible link between cognition, inflammation and response to treatment. The cognitive function of subjects with major depression will be tested before and after treatment with duloxetine. Inflammatory markers will be measured at both time points.

Objective There is growing evidence showing a relation between depression, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cardiovascular disease (1), serum lipid profile (2,3) and body weight (4), as well as the effects of some of the antidepressant medications on these various conditions and profiles. The aim of the study is to examine the influence of antidepressant medications on the metabolic profiles (5) of patients suffering from Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Group of patients: 30 Patients aged 18-65, who were diagnosed with MDD according to the DSM-IV criteria. Research Design and Methods: Research duration will be 8 weeks. Patients meeting the inclusion criteria will be recruited after being diagnosed with MDD and having undertaken the HDRS. A follow-up HDRS will be taken at weeks 4 and 8. The psychiatric evaluation will be held by a resident in psychiatry. The following metabolic parameters will be examined at base-line and at the end of the 8 weeks: Weight, height, waist circumference, body mass index (BMI: (Weight in Kg/(Height in meters)2), sitting blood pressure (after 3 minutes of sitting). Serum lipid profile (performed in Ziv hospital's chemistry lab): Low density lipoprotein cholesterol, High density Lipoprotein cholesterol, Triglycerides, Total cholesterol, Apolipoprotein level (Apo AI, Apo B, Apo E, Apo AII). Fasting glucose and insulin blood levels, in order to evaluate insulin-release and resistance, according to the following formulas: Insulin Resistance: HOMA IR=Fasting glucose (mg/dL)x Fasting insulin (mmol/L)/405 Insulin Release: HOMA-β={360xfasting insulin (mmol/L)}/{glucose(mg/dL)-63} Serum oxidative stress parameters according to the F2-Isoprostane kit will be measured. Malonylaialdehyde (MDA) content in serum will be analyzed by the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances assay, which measures malondialdehyde equivalent (13). Conjugated dienes will be measured at 234nm (14, 15).

The primary goal of this study is to compare a new symptoms rating questionnaire, called the Vancouver Semi-Structured Interview for Depression (V-SID), to the traditionally used questionnaires. The investigators predict that the V-SID will be more sensitive to patients' improvement than are traditional questionnaires.

Major depression disorder (MDD) has high estimated lifetime prevalence rates of 16.6%. Currently, the diagnosis for the MDD mainly depends on patients' reports of symptoms, observed behaviors and disease course. Establishment of clinically useful biomarkers for the MDD diagnosis would enhance patient management and treatment effect, and lead to the therapies adjusted to the individual. However, no such biomarkers have been established up to now. Therefore, the development of objective and feasible biomarkers is of special significance and a great challenge for accurate and early diagnosis and treatment of depression, in order to overcome the limitations of relying on clinical interviews alone.The ability to correctly recognize emotional states from faces is instrumental for interpersonal engagement and social functioning. Impairments processing of facial emotional expressions and biased facial emotion detection are frequently found in the MDD patients. To date, the studies on neural mechanism of the facial emotion recognition of the MDD patients were mainly based on the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) has not been applied for the facial emotion recognition for the depression patients up to now. To bridge the important gap in the literature, we used the fNIRS methodology to investigate the neural mechanisms of facial emotion recognition for the patients with depression. We hypothesize the physiological feature of the hemodynamic responses in prefrontal cortex measured by fNIRS under the task of face emotion recognition, including the difference of the median, the Mayer wave power, the mean cross wavelet coefficient, and the mean wavelet coherence coefficient, combined with the behavior measurement (behavior accuracy and response time), could provide a reliable and feasible diagnosis approach to differentiate patients with the MDD from healthy control (HC) subjects with acceptable sensitivity and specificity.

It is recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' Committee on Obstetric Practice that all obstetricians screen each women for postpartum depression and anxiety with a validated instrument. Although much effort is made, the contributing factors still lack in the literature due to its multi-factorial nature and complexity. In addition, the effects of prenatal education classes remain understudied. Therefore, this study aims to demonstrate the prevalence, characteristics and contributing factors of the postpartum depression. In addition, the change in prevalence and characteristics of the postpartum depression among women who had prenatal classes and not will also be assessed.

The study is designed as an open label, one arm study. Up to 30 eligible patients will be enrolled, for whom the Predictix Antidepressant Software tool will be used when prescribed with a medication for their Major Depressive Disorder, by their treating physician. Visits will include the completion of several questionnaires designed to answer the study objectives, either as self-reported by the subjects and/ or by the clinician.

Mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and trauma-related stress (MD\AD\TRS) are common among men, particularly those suffering from heart disease (HD). MD\AD\TRS are significantly related to exacerbation of HD symptoms that often lead to death. Unfortunately, men are significantly less likely than women to seek and receive appropriate treatment for their mental health issues including MD\AD\TRS. Furthermore, there is little literature about the use of the stepped care model in the Canadian setting. The overarching goal of this interventional program is therefore to prevent, early detect and treat MD\AD\TRS in men living with HD. This Participatory Action Research aims to implement a stepped-care model for MD\AD\TRS in men in New Brunswick, Ontario, and quebec. The second phase of the project proposes a quantitative study that will consist of testing the effectiveness and acceptability (by the men and the involved health professionals) of the stepped-care model. It will offer to post ACS-males a mental health related component presently not available in the typical services of the NB health system. Data will be collected at baseline (0 month) and at four follow-up (each 3-months) sessions to manage the progress of each participant throughout their 12-month journey in the study. Typical sociodemographic data will be collected, along with a questionnaire on Masculinity Norms, Couples Satisfaction (when applicable), and four mental health assessment tools.

Given the importance of cognitive function on depressed patients' treatment outcome and return to premorbid functioning, the effect of antidepressant drugs on cognition has become of primary concern. The aim of the present study is to assess the clinical outcome of switching from a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) to desvenlafaxine on cognitive function in a Spanish sample of adults with moderate to severe major depressive disorder (MDD). This open-label clinical study will include a total of 36 MDD outpatients receiving treatment with desvenlafaxine according to treating psychiatrist clinical judgment. The primary efficacy endpoint will be changes from baseline to week 12 in cognitive function measured by a composite z-score comprising the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) and Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) scores. The secondary efficacy endpoints will involve depression severity, additional measures of subjective and objective cognitive function (including cold and hot cognitive function tasks), and functional status. A matched sample of 36 healthy controls will be assessed in order to obtain reference data for all cognitive function measurements. Patients with MDD and healthy controls will be compared regarding cognitive function both at baseline and after 12 weeks.

The study focuses on the identification of clinical, physiological and morphological markers that could predict the response to antidepressant in elderly suffering from unipolar depressive disorder.

Community health workers (CHWs) have successfully used Motivational Interviewing (MI) to improve treatment adherence (i.e. taking medications and attending clinic appointments) for patients with depression in the US and globally. Mobile health (mHealth) tools can address challenges in implementing MI by providing real-time support in the community and facilitating ongoing coaching and supervision for CHWs, as these two challenges currently impede CHWs' ability to use MI. The investigators will develop then test a new mHealth app, which can potentially be used in the US and abroad, to help CHWs receive decision-support for MI and capture consented audio recordings of patient interactions for review and feedback by facility-based nurses with MI expertise.