The Effects of Fluoxetine on the Energy Level in Major Depressive Disorder: Multi-center Naturalistic Observational Study / 대한정신약물학회지

OBJECTIVE: A multi-center, open-labeled, prospective, observational study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of fluoxetine on energy level over 8 weeks in a group of Korean patients with major depressive disorder. METHODS: Of 635 (Ed- to avoid having to say "Six hundred..") patients with major depressive disorder in 24 centers who were recruited to 8 weeks treatment with fluoxetine, 136 were terminated at initial session, leaving 499 patients to be included in the final analysis. They were predominantly female (59.5%), with a mean age of 45.7+/-15.9 years. At three visits to the clinic (weeks 0, 4 and 8), a record was made of Retardation Factor score of Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HD-RF), Lack of Energy score of Symptom Check List-90R (SCL-E), Energy score (QOL-E) and Fatigue score (QOL-F) of Quality of Life, and Visual Analogue Scale for Energy Level (VAS-E). RESULTS: The average dose of fluoxetine was 18.5+/-6.8mg/day for the first 4 weeks and 25.3+/-10.6 mg/day for the second 4 weeks. Of the patients, 85.4% in the first 4-week period and 86.8% in the second 4-week period took more than 85% of the prescribed medication. At least one of the concomitant anxiolytic drugs with fluoxetine was prescribed to 79.8% of the patients (alprazolam 47.9%, lorazepam 21.4%). The energy symptoms were significantly improved by fluoxetine over time, according to the analysis controlling the improvement effect of global depressive symptoms using repeated measures ANCOVA with the change of total HAM-D score as a covariate. Even comparing with the patients who took concomitant anti-anxiety medication, those who did not take concomitant anti-anxiety medication showed greater improvement of energy symptoms irrespective of the severity of baseline anxiety symptoms. CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate that fluoxetine is effective in restoring the energy of patients with major depressive disorder. They also suggest that physicians should be careful in prescribing sedating antidepressants or concomitant anti-anxiety medication with fluoxetine for patients with major depressive disorder.

The Study on Reliability and Validity of Korean Versions of Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale for Outpatient of Alcohol Dependence / 신경정신의학

OBJECTIVES: This study is to examine the efficacy and the limitation of translated Korean version of the Obsessive-compulsive Drinking Scale. The Korean version of the scale is to be used for treatment and research on alcoholism. METHODS: This study was carried out to examine reliability and validity of the translated Korean version of the Obsessive-compulsive Drinking Scale. One hundred forty two out-patient alcohol dependence subjects were measured of their cognitive and behavioral aspects of craving with this scale. RESULTS: For 142 tested alcoholic subjects, internal consistency among 14 items of the Obsessive-compulsive Drinking Scale was 0.8947(Crohnbach's alpha). For 40 detoxified alcoholics, test-retest reliability of total score of the Korean version of the Obsessive-compulsive Drinking Scale was 0.76 (correlation coefficient, p<0.01). In 131 alcoholic subjects, validity of total score of the Korean version of the Obsessive-compulsive Drinking Scale was examined by correlation analysis with visual analogue scale (VAS). Correlation coefficient was 0.52 with VAS. Especially, correlation coefficient of compulsive subscale of the Korean version of the Obsessive-compulsive Drinking Scale was 0.61 with VAS. The total score of the Korean version of the Obsessive-compulsive Drinking Scale which was analyzed by repeated measure analyses of variance during 8 weeks was significantly different between the relapse group and the abstinence group. CONCLUSION: The Korean version of the Obsessive-compulsive Drinking Scale shows very similar psychometric performance to the original Obsessive-compulsive Drinking Scale developed by Anton. The Korean version, therefore, is an useful instrument that reflects characteristic drinking behaviors of alcoholics.