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. 2018 Jan 1:225:117-122.
doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2017.08.031. Epub 2017 Aug 14.

Quality of life and functioning of Hispanic patients with Major Depressive Disorder before and after treatment

Enrique López  1 , Alexander J Steiner  2 , Karra Manier  3 , Bryan B Shapiro  3 , Brigitte Vanle  3 , Thomas Parisi  3 , Jonathan Dang  3 , Tiffany Chang  3 , Shaina Ganjian  3 , James Mirocha  4 , Itai Danovitch  3 , Waguih William IsHak  5
Affiliations

Quality of life and functioning of Hispanic patients with Major Depressive Disorder before and after treatment

Enrique López et al. J Affect Disord. .

Abstract

Background: Similar rates of remission from Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) have been documented between ethnic groups in response to antidepressant treatment. However, ethnic differences in functional outcomes, including patient-reported quality of life (QOL) and functioning, have not been well-characterized. We compared symptomatic and functional outcomes of antidepressant treatment in Hispanic and non-Hispanic patients with MDD.

Methods: We analyzed 2280 nonpsychotic treatment-seeking adults with MDD who received citalopram monotherapy in Level 1 of the Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression study. All subjects (239 Hispanic, 2041 non-Hispanic) completed QOL, functioning, and depressive symptom severity measures at entry and exit.

Results: Hispanic participants had significantly worse QOL scores at entry and exit (p < 0.01). However, after controlling for baseline QOL, there was no difference between Hispanic and non-Hispanic patients' QOL at exit (p = 0.21). There were no significant between-group differences at entry or at exit for depressive symptom severity or functioning. Both groups had significant improvements in depressive symptom severity, QOL, and functioning from entry to exit (all p values < 0.01). Patients with private insurance had lower depressive symptom severity, greater QOL, and better functioning at exit compared to patients without private insurance.

Limitations: This study was a retrospective data analysis, and the Hispanic group was relatively small compared to the non-Hispanic group.

Conclusions: Hispanic and non-Hispanic participants with MDD had similar responses to antidepressant treatment as measured by depressive symptom severity scores, quality of life, and functioning. Nevertheless, Hispanic patients reported significantly worse quality of life at entry.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00021528.

Keywords: Functioning; Hispanic; Latino/a; Major Depressive Disorder; Quality of Life; SSRI.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None of the authors have any financial interest or conflicts of interest to report. The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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