[Exploratory study of amitriptyline resistance in depressed patients: results of WHO French collaborating center on depressions resistant to treatments]. / Etude exploratoire de la résistance à l'amitriptyline chez les déprimés : résultats du centre français collaborateur OMS sur les dépressions résistantes aux traitements.

A multicountry, multicentre double-blind study in a group of depressives, coordinated by the Mental Health Division of the World Health Association (WHO) has been done. The goal of the study is to determine whether the therapeutic effects of amitriptyline can be enhanced and potentiated by combining it with an antioxydant (gingko biloba). An exploratory study has preceded the main study which had the objective to estimate the proportion of non-response patient to amitriptyline. We report the results concerning the French center. 23 inpatients meet the ICD-10 criteria for depression (F32 and F33) and were treated during 6 weeks by amitriptyline with the initial daily dose of 50 mg until the maximum dose of 200 mg. The proportion of non-responsive patient to amitriptyline was 34.78 (95% confidence interval : 15.32 to 54.24%), all clinically deteriorated.

[Epidemiological knowledge and clinical truth: objectivity and clinical practice]. / Savoir épidémiologique et vérité clinique: objectivité et clinique.

The authors analyse the difficulties of the knowledge given by epidemiological studies from the clinician's point of view. They propose three arguments to define the aid epidemiology can bring to clinicians: to give rise to hypotheses from clinical experience, validate some epidemiological results, and reflect on the integration of predictive knowledge in clinical practice. These arguments are illustrated by examples taken from the authors work and propositions of epidemiological studies of which the aim and the problematic could emanate from observation and clinical experiences.