Introduction: Residual depressive symptoms are common after a successful acute treatment of late-life depression (LLD), and their presence predicts increased risk of relapse. While electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the most effective treatment for LLD, little is known about which particular symptoms remain and impact long-term outcome after a successful acute ECT course.

Objectives: We aimed to assess the association between specific residual depressive symptoms after an effective acute ECT course for LLD and relapse at six-month follow-up.

Methods: In this prospective cohort study, including 110 patients aged 55 years and older with LLD, information about relapse was collected six months after the acute ECT course. Relapse was defined as a Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) score >15, hospital admission or restart of ECT. We used multivariable stepwise logistic regression models including the scores on the 10 individual MADRS items at the end of the acute ECT course to predict relapse.

Results: Of the 80 responders with available six-month follow-up data, 29 patients (36.25%) had suffered relapse. Higher scores on the MADRS items ‘reduced sleep’ (odds ratio (OR)=2.03, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.11-3.69, p=0.0214) and ‘lassitude’ (OR=1.62, 95% CI=1.00-2.62, p=0.0497) at the end of the acute ECT course were significantly associated with increased risk of relapse at six-month follow-up.

Conclusions: Some residual depressive symptoms, including sleep disturbance and fatigue, may help better identify patients vulnerable to relapse following a successful acute ECT course for LLD. Future studies assessing interventions that target specific residual symptoms may further reduce post-ECT depressive relapse.

No significant relationships.

The aim of this study was to assess the outcome of the comorbid conditions of panic disorder after 1 year of treatment, emphasizing the detection of residual symptoms and their relationship to other clinical variables.

Subjects (N=64) were assessed by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Comorbidity with other disorders, scores on Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale were assessed at baseline and after 12 months. Criteria for residual anxiety/somatic symptoms were defined.

Reduction in generalized anxiety disorder rates accounted for a significant decrease in comorbidity at 1-year follow-up, with regard to baseline assessment.When the more severe symptoms of the disorder had remitted, a third of the patients referred physical symptoms with some concern over a fluctuating state of anxiety. The said symptoms were neither a recurrence of panic disorder nor did they account for other anxiety or somatoform disorders. Lower scores on extraversion predict higher risk of residual symptoms.

The persistence of residual anxiety/somatic symptoms in a third of the patients who apparently achieved a good response to treatment of panic disorder might characterize a minor form of chronic persistence of this condition.

The subgroup of patients with residual symptoms would not be detectable by follow-up studies, which focus on the assessment of relapse of panic disorder by means of strictly defined diagnostic criteria.

Many patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) who experience full symptomatic remission after antidepressant treatment still have residual depressive symptoms. We describe the types and frequency of residual depressive symptoms and their relationship to subsequent depressive relapse after treatment with citalopram in the Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) trial.

Participants in primary (n=18) and psychiatric (n=23) practice settings were openly treated with citalopram using measurement-based care for up to 14 weeks and follow-up for up to 1 year. We assessed 943 (32.8% of 2876) participants who met criteria for remission to determine the proportions with individual residual symptoms and any of the nine DSM-IV criterion symptom domains to define a major depressive episode. At each visit, the 16-item Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology, Self-Report (QIDS-SR16) and the self-report Frequency, Intensity, and Burden of Side Effects Rating (FIBSER) scale were used to assessed depressive symptoms and side-effects respectively.

More than 90% of remitters had at least one residual depressive symptom (median=3). The most common were weight increase (71.3%) and mid-nocturnal insomnia (54.9%). The most common residual symptom domains were sleep disturbance (71.7%) and appetite/weight disturbance (35.9%). Those who remitted before 6 weeks had fewer residual symptoms at study exit than did later remitters. Residual sleep disturbance did not predict relapse during follow-up. Having a greater number of residual symptom domains was associated with a higher probability of relapse.

Patients with remission of MDD after treatment with citalopram continue to experience selected residual depressive symptoms, which increase the risk of relapse.