[Treatment with venlafaxine extended release for climacteric women with depression or anxiety diagnosis. An open-label study]. / Tratamiento con venlafaxina clorhidrato de mujeres climatéricas con diagnóstico de ansiedad o depresión. Estudio abiero.

INTRODUCTION: The objective of this observational study was to assess under real clinical practice conditions the effectiveness and safety of venlafaxine extended release in anxiety-depressed and hormone-related symptoms in climacteric women with anxiety or depressive disorders. METHODOLOGY: Observational, prospective, open-label, multicenter, 24-week study, carried out in Spain. A sample of 45 outpatients, adult women between 45 and 55 years of age, diagnosed of depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder or social anxiety disorder were analyzed. Venlafaxine extended release was administered for 24 weeks at doses according to the investigator's clinical criteria. RESULTS: Of the total of 45 patients who were included in the study, 43 (95.6%) completed it. The patients' age range was of 47 to 55 years old, median of 50 and mean of 50.82. The clinical condition evolution was assessed with the evaluation scales scores: Blatt-Kuppermann Menopausal Index, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Hamilton Anxiety Scale and Clinical Global Impression. During the 24-week period, a significant decrease in the different scales scores showed a clinical improvement. CONCLUSIONS: The results achieved show that treatment with venlafaxine extended release significantly improved the clinical condition of climacteric patients with anxiety or depressive disorder. If these results are confirmed with placebo-controlled clinical trials, they will support the utility of Venlafaxine extended release in this kind of patients.

Tratamiento con venlafaxina clorhidrato de mujeres climatéricas con diagnóstico de ansiedad o depresión. Estudio abierto / Treatment with venlafaxine extended release for climacteric women with depression or anxiety diagnosis. An open-label study

Introducción. El objetivo de este estudio observacional fue evaluar, bajo condiciones reales de práctica clínica, la efectividad y seguridad de venlafaxina clorhidrato en síntomas de ansiedad-depresión y síntomas hormonales en mujeres climatéricas con trastorno de ansiedad o depresivo. Metodología. Estudio observacional, prospectivo, abierto y multicéntrico, de 24 semanas de duración, llevado a cabo en España. Se analizó una muestra de 45 pacientes ambulatorios mujeres de entre 45 y 55 años con diagnóstico de episodio depresivo, trastorno de ansiedad generalizada o trastorno de ansiedad social. Se administró venlafaxina clorhidrato durante 24 semanas a dosis según criterio clínico del investigador. Resultados. De las 45 pacientes que iniciaron el estudio, 43 (95,6%) finalizaron el mismo. El rango de edad fue de 47 a 55 años, una mediana de 50 años y una media 50,82 años. La evolución de la situación clínica fue mesurada por la puntuación de las escalas de evaluación: Índice Menopáusico de Blatt-Kuppermann; Escala de Hamilton para la Depresión; Escala de Hamilton de Ansiedad e Impresión Clínica Global. Durante las 24 semanas se observó una mejoría clínica demostrada por una disminución significativa de las puntuaciones de las distintas escalas. Conclusiones. Los resultados obtenidos indican que el tratamiento con venlafaxina clorhidrato mejoró significativamente la situación clínica de las pacientes climatéricas con trastorno de ansiedad o trastorno depresivo. En el caso de confirmarse mediante ensayos controlados con placebo, estos resultados avalarían la utilidad de la venlafaxina clorhidrato en este tipo de pacientes (AU)

Introduction. The objective of this observational study was to assess under real clinical practice conditions the effectiveness and safety of venlafaxine extended release in anxiety-depressed and hormone-related symptoms in climacteric women with anxiety or depressive disorders. Methodology. Observational, prospective, open-label, multicenter, 24-week study, carried out in Spain. A sample of 45 outpatients, adult women between 45 and 55 years of age, diagnosed of depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder or social anxiety disorder were analyzed. Venlafaxine extended release was administered for 24 weeks at doses according to the investigator’s clinical criteria. Results. Of the total of 45 patients who were included in the study, 43 (95.6%) completed it. The patients’ age range was of 47 to 55 years old, median of 50 and mean of 50.82. The clinical condition evolution was assessed with the evaluation scales scores: Blatt-Kuppermann Menopausal Index, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Hamilton Anxiety Scale and Clinical Global Impression. During the 24-week period, a significant decrease in the different scales scores showed a clinical improvement. Conclusions. The results achieved show that treatment with venlafaxine extended release significantly improved the clinical condition of climacteric patients with anxiety or depressive disorder. If these results are confirmed with placebo-controlled clinical trials, they will support the utility of Venlafaxine extended release in this kind of patients (AU)

Adaptation and validation of the Spanish version of the Mood Disorder Questionnaire for the detection of bipolar disorder.

OBJECTIVE: The Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) is an instrument for the detection of patients with bipolar disorder (BD). The original English version is validated in both the psychiatric and the general population, but a validated Spanish version is not yet available. Psychometric properties of the Spanish adaptation of the MDQ in psychiatry are described. METHODS: The MDQ is a self-administered questionnaire comprising a list of 13 hypomanic symptoms and two questions about concurrence of symptoms and functional impairment caused by the symptoms. We selected patients from 15 psychiatric outpatient departments, diagnosed with BD type I and II (BDI and BDII) and major depression (MD) according to DSM-IV-TR criteria (concurrent validity instrument). A control group of healthy subjects (HS) was selected. The patient-selection criteria included stability of the disorder and pharmacological treatment. The MDQ was administered to 236 subjects, distributed among the four groups, on two occasions, four weeks apart. We analysed the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and discriminative capacity of the MDQ for the detection of patients with BD. RESULTS: Concurrent validity based on diagnosis according to DSM-IV-TR was 0.83. The internal consistency, evaluated by Cronbach's alpha, was 0.90. The mean (SD) number of affirmative responses by group was: 9.8 (2.4) for BDI, 8.5 (2.8) for BDII, 2.7 (2.2) for MD, and 1.02 (1.9) for HS. Statistically significant differences between all the groups were found (Kruskal-Wallis test, p < 0.001). Concurrent validity using the diagnostic variable was 0.83. Test-retest reliability was 0.92. We analysed the scale's discriminative capacity, revealing a sensitivity value of 0.60 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.51-0.69] and a specificity value of 0.98 (95% CI = 0.94-0.99) in the detection of BD. The positive and negative probability ratios were 35.5 and 2.4, respectively. If we consider only seven positive responses as the discriminative criterion, sensitivity increases to 0.81 (95% CI = 0.73-0.88), the specificity value is 0.95 (95% CI = 0.89-0.98) and the positive and negative probability quotients are 16 and 5.3. CONCLUSIONS: The psychometric characteristics of the Spanish version are similar to those of the original version. In the Spanish adaptation of the MDQ, seven positive responses to hypomanic symptoms show a good discriminative capacity for BD in patients attending psychiatric outpatient facilities; therefore, this cut-off score is proposed for the detection of BD in psychiatric outpatients.