RISPERIDONE STUDY RESULTS PRESENTED AT CONFERENCE

Most older patients with depression who have not responded to other treatments appear to benefit from augmentation of citalopram (Celexa) with risperidone (Risperdal), according to findings presented at the recent 18th Congress of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The study's investigators were interested in whether risperidone augmentation of citalopram would be effective in older patients with chronic medical conditions, because such patients often do not respond to antidepressant therapies. The researchers evaluated 101 patients who were at least 55 years old and had major depressive disorder, and had not achieved a benefit from at least one trial of an antidepressant in the current depressive episode.

In the open-label phase, the patients received daily doses of citalopram monotherapy for four to six weeks to confirm the lack of a response, defined as less than 50 percent reduction in Hamilton Rating for Depression scale (HAM-D) scores. A full nonresponse was defined as less than 25 percent reduction in HAM-D scores