Active clinical trials for "Depressive Disorder"

Seniors who receive supportive services face a variety of psychosocial vulnerabilities that put them at risk for depression. One group with very high risk is older adults receiving aging services through Medicaid waiver programs. This 3-year research uses a randomized controlled clinical trial to assess the effectiveness of brief behavioral therapies (problem solving therapy [PST] and Brief Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia [BBTI]) to prevent depression in seniors receiving aging services.

Ketamine infusions resulted in an acute reduction in global depression scores and in severity of suicidal ideation. Scopolamine infusions produced also a significant improvement in depression that was sustained over time. We therefore plan to investigate the feasibility and efficacy of open-label repeated intravenous administration of ketamine and scopolamine combined in this population of severely depressed, treatment-resistant patients. The results from this study could lead to the development of new strategies for the treatment of patients with TRD.

To investigate whether fish oil supplementation, compared to placebo (olive oil), could have better effects on depression course and cognitive function in older people with major depression.

In this study, patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) who have insomnia symptom are treated with Seroquel XR in an open-label manner for a 4-week period with repeated measurements of insomnia symptoms and sleep parameters using polysomnography.

Background: Due to the lingering effects of general anesthesia and the administration of medications for pain after surgery, children in the recovery room are at risk for breathing problems. While there are less data specific to children, in general 25% of patients in the recovery room experience complications from anesthesia. The most common complications involve the patient's airway and their ability to breath adequately. Currently, checks of oxygenation with a pulse oximetry monitor and of respiration through nursing assessments are used to detect breathing problems. However, these are believed not to be adequate for reliably recognizing significant respiratory depression until other dangerous events develop such as the cessation of breathing, severe drops in oxygen levels, or cardiac arrest. Capnography is a monitoring device that measures the amount of carbon dioxide being exhaled and assesses the adequacy of respiration. A small plastic cannula sits at the base of the nose and on the lip to continuously monitor the patient's breathing. Most children tolerate this device well and staff consider it easy to use. While capnography is routinely used in the operating room to monitor breathing, it is not used during post-operative care when patients are still at risk of breathing problems. Objectives: To determine if capnography can detect problems with breathing faster and more often than traditional monitors. To determine if the addition of capnography to routine monitoring will decrease the numbers of additional adverse events that occur in children undergoing post-operative care by allowing nurses to intervene in care faster and more frequently. Methods: In the first phase of this study, the investigators will apply the capnography monitor to children in the recover room and determine how often they experience breathing difficulties measured by this device. In the second phase, the investigators will educate staff on the use of capnography and what values are considered abnormal. Children will again have the capnography cannula placed on them as they enter the recovery room. They will then be divided into two groups - in one group the nurses in the recovery room will have access to the capnography monitor for their patients, whereas in the other group the nurses will not be able to see the readout from the monitor. The investigators will determine if children have fewer breathing problems and less additional adverse events when nurses use capnography in addition to the routine monitors already in place in the recovery room as compared to when nurses use standard monitoring alone. Potential Impact: If capnography can detect breathing problems prior to being identified by current monitoring devices, staff may be able to intervene more quickly and before more serious events occur in the children receiving post-operative care. This can reduce adverse events, improve patient safety, and avert harm in children. The adoption of this device for routine monitoring of post-operative care has the potential to save lives.

Depression is common among elderly with an estimated prevalence of 5%. Due to ageing the national burden will double in the coming decade. Antidepressants as TCAs and SSRIs are effective in reducing symptoms, especially in people with severe depression. To optimize treatment efficacy and reduce side effects, the Pharmacogenetics Working Group of the Royal Dutch Pharmacists Association developed guidelines for dose-adaptation, for instance for antidepressants such as nortriptyline and venlafaxine based on their main relevant genotype (CYP2D6) accompanied by Therapeutic Drug Monitoring. Such personalized drug dosing based on pharmacogenetic information at the start of therapy can speed up the titration phase of antidepressants to establish an adequate maintenance dose. However, pharmacogenetic screening programs are expensive and evidence on effects and costs of such a program among elderly antidepressant starters from randomized controlled studies is lacking. The investigators will conduct a pragmatic randomized controlled trial to determine the effects and costs of pharmacogenetic screening information to optimize drug dosing in depressed elderly patients who start with nortriptyline or venlafaxine. Objective: The primary objective is to determine the effects of pharmacogenetic screening for CYP2D6 on the time to reach adequate blood levels as an accepted proxy for adequate treatment. Secondary objectives include adverse drug reactions and cost-effectiveness Study design: pragmatic randomized controlled intervention study

Pregnant women with histories of depression are at high risk of depressive relapse/recurrence during the perinatal period, and options for relapse/recurrence prevention are limited. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) has strong evidence among general populations but has not been studied among at risk pregnant women. This study is the second phase of a multi-phase project adapting MBCT for perinatal women (MBCT-PD).

The goal of this project is to conduct a pilot study to test the utility of a Natural Language Processing (NLP) clinical messaging tool to improve the reach and the quality (fidelity and competency) of coaches providing behavioral activation (BA) strategies through a mobile mental health app called Personalized Real-time Intervention for Motivational Enhancement (PRIME). This study will improve the reach of clinicians by using a NLP-powered messaging tool, which will ensure fidelity to the BA model and clinicians will have access to real-time clinical information about their patients to guide more targeted treatment (competence). If successful, PRIME could operate as a cost effective tool for clinicians to extend their reach and an accessible treatment for the population of those struggling with depression.

Depression is a common disorder, especially in old age, where it is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. This study will investigate whether there are features of individual patients with major depression that may predict positive treatment response. The study will invite 40 patients who have been diagnosed with major depressive disorder with onset after the age of 60 years to participate. Participants will be recruited from the Mental Health of Older Adults services at the South London and Maudsley NHS Mental Health Foundation Trust. Participants will receive usual treatment as set out in standard Care Pathways, used by the clinical care team. As part of the study, they will undergo a short battery of neuropsychological tests and a standard MRI brain imaging protocol. The neuropsychological tests and assessment of depression severity will be carried out twice (at Baseline and Week 12). Data will be analysed to investigate whether there are features specific to those patients who show a good response to antidepressant treatment after 12 weeks. Identification of such predictors may help to stratify treatment approaches in the future and lead to the early identification of individual patients who may require alternative treatment approaches to standard antidepressants.

This is an investigator led, randomised, double blind, placebo controlled, double arm comparator study.