Depression Rarely Discussed with RA Patients

Even though people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may be at increased risk for depression, the subject is rarely discussed with their doctors, says a U.S. study that included 200 RA patients at four rheumatology clinics. The researchers, led by Betsy Sleath, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, assessed the patients' mental health and recorded patient/rheumatologist medical visits. They found that 11 percent of the patients had moderately severe to severe symptoms of depression, which was significantly more likely to occur in patients whose activities were more restricted due to their disease...  Read More   |   Discuss   |   Suggest An Article

Depression in Young Doctors Tied to Medication Errors

Medical residents who are depressed are about six times more likely to make medication errors than those who aren't depressed, says a study that looked a 123 pediatric residents at three children's hospitals in the United States. Researchers found that 20 percent of the residents were depressed, and 74 percent were burned out. During the study period, the residents made a total of 45 medications errors, and those who were depressed made 6.2 times more medication errors than those who weren't depressed... Read More   |   Discuss   |   Suggest An Article 

Depression in the Golden Years

For many older adults, the "golden years" are indeed golden. My parents, who are both over the age of 65, are enjoying their retirement here in Northern California. My father is supervising the building of their new house and my mother runs a website she created for senior women. They go to baseball games and symphonies, among other activities, and spend a lot of time taking their grandchildren to museums of all kinds. I think they probably would be a good commercial for vitamins marketed to seniors. Unfortunately, for some seniors, the golden years are more like leaden, especially if they're living with depression. Not only can depression suck all the enjoyment out of life, as it can at any age, but depression can also be dangerous to an older adult's physical health... Read More   |   Discuss   |   Suggest An Article

Post-Concussion Depression More than Emotional

Post-concussion symptoms of depression may stem from an underlying neurological abnormality caused by the concussion, results of a Canadian study suggest. Depression after a blow to the head may not simply be the individual's emotional or psychological reaction to the injury and their subsequent loss of playing time, as is commonly thought, investigators note in the medical journal, Archives of General Psychiatry. "It seems there is a cerebral dysfunction caused by the injury," Dr. Alain Ptito, of the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital at McGill University in Quebec, told Reuters Health. The injury manifests itself as symptoms of depression, he added... Read More   |   Discuss   |   Suggest An Article

Antidepressant Studies Unpublished

The makers of antidepressants like Prozac and Paxil never published the results of about a third of the drug trials that they conducted to win government approval, misleading doctors and consumers about the drugs’ true effectiveness, a new analysis has found. In published trials, about 60 percent of people taking the drugs report significant relief from depression, compared with roughly 40 percent of those on placebo pills. But when the less positive, unpublished trials are included, the advantage shrinks: the drugs outperform placebos, but by a modest margin, concludes the new report, which appears Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine. Previous research had found a similar bias toward reporting positive results for a variety of medications; and many researchers have questioned the reported effectiveness of antidepressants. But the new analysis, reviewing data from 74 trials involving 12 drugs, is the most thorough to date. And it documents a large difference: while 94 percent of the positive studies found their way into print, just 14 percent of those with disappointing or uncertain results did... Read More   |   Discuss   |   Suggest An Article