Authors: Clarice Gorenstein Stefania Caldeira de Carvalho Rinaldo Artes Ricardo Alberto Moreno Tania Marcourakis
Publish Date: 2006/02/17
Volume: 185, Issue: 1, Pages: 84-92
Abstract
Depressive disorders are conditions that often require continuous treatment and it is therefore important to evaluate the consequences of prolonged administration There are few studies assessing cognitive functions of depressed patients after longterm use of antidepressantsPatients with major depression DSMIV using imipramine for 24±06 years mean±SE clomipramine for 28±12 years fluoxetine for 18±03 years and sertraline for 15±03 years were compared to matched controls sex age and educational level without any psychiatric diagnosis Memory evaluation consisted of episodic implicit and working memory tests as well as metamemory assessmenta Psychomotor performance of patients taking imipramine was worse than that of controls in inserting pins and a visual reaction time task on the performance of tapping the difference from controls varied according to dose/weight for patients taking clomipramine and fluoxetine b For memory tests differences between patients taking sertraline and controls were observed in the number of digits and words recalled the difference between patients and controls varied according to dose/weight on the number of familiar words correctly completed for patients taking clomipramine and on digit span backward for those taking sertraline c Metamemory was worse in all patient groups irrespective of patients’ clinical state
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