The study of modern medication of depression state

Abstract

Introduction: Depression is considered to be the plague of the XXI century. According to the latest statistics more than 125 million people worldwide suffer from depression. In the last twenty years the rhythm of antidepressants sales had increased over 40%. Annually in the world are consumed approximately 10,000 tons of tranquilizers in order to relieve depression. Regarding to the fact that there are few studies about the incidence of clinical manifestations, contemporary methods of treatment, we undertook this research. The goal is to appreciate the epidemiology, clinical manifestations and treatment methods.

Materials and methods: In our study we analyzed 98 medical histories and performed a review of the literature of the last 10 years using PubMed.

Discussion results: Gender ratio shows that men are more likely to be in depression (70.56%) than women (29.44%). The biggest number of the subjects are in the age group 51-65 years with a slight difference from those who are in their 36-50 years. The smallest group consists of the representatives with the age under 20 years. It is observed a higher percentage of depression cases in rural areas compared to urban ones: 60.98% cases in rural areas and 39.02% in urban areas. The most frequent depressive symptoms are: depressive mood (95-100%); insomnia (95%); concentration disorder (90%); anorexia (80%); fatigability (75%); despair (50%); delirious ideas (35%). By analysis of 33 studies of depression treatment we determined that 50% of the cases had response to medical treatment, while the placebo response rate was 35%. Randomized trials with tricyclic antidepressants demonstrate similar effectiveness with SSRI drugs in prophylaxy but SSRI are slightly better tolerantion. Tricyclic antidepressants have more side effects, intensity of which persists through the whole time of treatment. This fact can lead to early interruption of treatment. Lower-dose prescribing to reduce side effects will be inefficient, because subtherapeutic doses have low efficiency, 3/4 of treated patients remain depressed despite such a long treatment. To reduce the toxicity of drug treatment scientists appealed to such an ancient method as phytotherapy by studying different plants: Hypericum perforatum, Kava, Bacopa monnieri and others which have a better effect and lack of serious side effects.

Conclusions: According to the study results we established that more effective drugs for depression treatment are SSRI (sertraline) but due to the adverse effects it is better to study the efficiency of natural drugs, which have lower toxicity and lack of side effects.