ABSTRACT
Objective:To observe the effect of escitalopram combined with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on efficacy and attention function in patients with first-episode unipolar depression.Methods:Fifty-two first-episode initial-naive unipolar depression patients were enrolled in Department of Neurology of Guangzhou First People's Hospital from March 2022 to April 2023 were chosen. They were randomly allocated to active stimulation group ( n=27) and sham stimulation group ( n=25); both were treated with escitalopram, and active treatment or sham treatment in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) were given for 4 weeks (5 d per week, 20 d totally). Before treatment and 2 and 4 weeks after treatment, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD)-24 was used to evaluate depressive symptoms, and Birmingham Cognitive Screening Scale-Chinese (BCoS-C) was used to evaluate the attention function. Results:(1) In terms of depressive symptoms: HAMD-24 scores of the active stimulation group 2 and 4 weeks after treatment (20.63±2.73, 15.85±2.43) were significantly lower than those before treatment (25.74±2.68, P<0.05); HAMD-24 scores of sham stimulation group 4 weeks after treatment were also significantly lower than those before treatment ([20.48±2.33] vs. [25.80±2.57], P<0.05); HAMD-24 scores of the active stimulation group 2 and 4 weeks after treatment were significantly lower than those of sham stimulation group ( P<0.05). (2) In terms of auditory attention indicators: total correct number (selective attention) in active stimulation group 4 weeks after treatment was significantly larger than that before treatment (51.74±1.38 vs. 47.48±1.60), and the sustained index (sustained attention) was significantly lower than that before treatment (0.74±0.71 vs. 4.37±1.15, P<0.05); total correct number in active stimulation group 4 weeks after treatment was significantly larger than that in sham stimulation group (48.00±1.66), and the sustained index was significantly lower than that in sham stimulation group (3.72±1.28, P<0.05). Conclusion:Combined with escitalopram, rTMS can more effectively mitigate the depressive symptoms in first-episode unipolar depression patients, and depressive symptoms improve more quickly than attentional function.
ABSTRACT
Objective To observe the functional connectivity of attentional network in first-episode treatment-naive depressed patients with resting-state functional MR imaging (rfMRI),and to investigate the neuropathologic mechanism of attention dysfunction.Methods Eighteen first-episode treatment-naive depressed patients were collected in our hospital from August 2015 to March 2017,and 16 healthy controls matched with age,gender and education were chosen at the same time period.All subjects accepted rfMRI.Pearson correlation analysis was performed on all the time series values of the two regions of interest (ROIs),and their correlation coefficient was obtained.Fisher z transformation was performed to reflect the functional connection strength of the two ROIs through z scores.Results As compared with healthy controls,depressed patients showed abnormal enhancement on functional connectivity of the attentional network in the left anterior cingulate and supplementary motor area (z scores:0.21 ±0.10 vs.0.13±0.09,P=0.029),right basal ganglia region and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (z scores:0.18±0.12 vs.0.10±0.08,P=0.048),right frontal eye field and intraparietal suleus (z scores:0.19± 0.12 vs.0.10±0.05,P=0.006),right frontal eye field and nucleus ceruleus (z scores:0.18±0.13 vs.0.09± 0.07,P=0.018).Conclusion Abnormal functional connectivity of attentional network exists extensively in first-episode treatment-naive depressed patients,which may be due to attention impairment in depressed patients.