A new study evaluates the safety and efficacy of two common classes of antidepressants used for the treatment of postpartum depression.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), or tricyclics, are medications used for care of general depression. While the pharmaceuticals are often used for postpartum depression, the study was the first to compare the medications specifically among women who experienced major depression after childbirth.

The investigation, led by researchers from the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine is published in the August issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology.

“We’ve been treating postpartum depression based on the assumption that drugs that work for a woman with depression under usual circumstances will work for a woman who experiences depression after giving birth, but there have not been studies that provide scientific proof that this was an effective and safe course of treatment,” said Katherine L. Wisner, M.D., M.S., professor of psychiatry and obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. “Treating these women based on that assumption was simply not good enough, and we felt compelled to provide scientific evidence to guide postpartum depression treatment decisions.”

In the study, researchers compared the tricyclic nortriptyline and the SSRI sertraline because both drugs were proven effective in treating general depression in women. In addition, previous studies showed the two drugs were acceptable for use in breastfeeding women. Researchers interviewed 420 women who had major depression with postpartum onset at three sites: Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Louisville, Ky. Of those, 109 qualified and chose to participate in the study. They were randomized to receive either nortriptyline or sertraline. A placebo was not used, as researchers felt it would be unethical and dangerous to the mother and her infant to not treat the illness actively. Using common tools for assessment of depression, the investigators evaluated the women for remission of depressive symptoms at four, eight and 24 weeks. The latter evaluation point included only women who had responded after eight weeks. Of the original 109 participants, 95 provided response data at four weeks, 83 provided data at eight weeks, and 29 completed between 20 and 24 weeks of the study.

The proportion of women who responded with a reduction in depressive symptoms, and those who remitted, having few depressive symptoms consistent with wellness, did not significantly differ between the two drugs at any of the study’s time points. By week four, 46 percent of the participants taking sertraline had responded and 27 percent remitted, while 56 percent of those taking nortriptyline responded and 30 percent remitted. At eight weeks, 56 percent of the participants on sertraline had a reduction of symptoms and 46 percent had no symptoms, while the participants taking nortriptyline had 69 percent respond and 48 percent remit. Of the 29 participants who remained in the study until 20-24 weeks, 93 percent taking sertraline responded and 73 percent remitted, while 100 percent taking nortriptyline responded and 79 percent remitted. None of these differences were significant by statistical analyses.

Learn more about safe meds for postpartum depression.

Cerebrospinal fluid could be key in improving Alzheimer’s research

TUESDAY, May 12 (HealthDay News) — Checking levels of certain biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid may help predict the rate of cognitive decline in people with very mild dementia, and this information could be used to improve the effectiveness of clinical trials, say U.S. researchers.

Their study, published in the May issue of the journal Archives of Neurology , included 49 people who’d been diagnosed with very mild Alzheimer’s disease. Samples of cerebrospinal fluid taken from the patients were tested for several biomarkers associated with Alzheimer’s, including alpha-beta peptide 1-42 (Aβ42), tau, and phosphorylated tau 181 (ptau 181).

The patients had at least one follow-up assessment an average of 3.5 years later and the researchers found that the “rate of dementia progression was significantly more rapid in individuals with lower baseline cerebrospinal fluid Aβ42 levels, higher tau or ptau 181 levels or high tau:Aβ42 ratios.”

Finding effective treatments for Alzheimer’s will likely depend on early identification of patients, noted study author Dr. Barbara J. Snider and colleagues at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Read the rest of this story on safe meds here.