PRINCETON, N.J., Dec. 9, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Consumer Health Sciences, a leading international provider of comprehensive consumer health information and patient reported outcomes, presented important data at the ISPOR 11th Annual European Congress, Athens, Greece, November 11, 2008. Findings demonstrated high unmet needs among patients with depression using SSRIs or SNRIs.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) are commonly used in the treatment of depression. Efficacy of SSRIs and SNRIs has been evaluated using clinical trial data and meta-analyses. However, using patient-reported survey data for the assessment of unmet needs provides a real-world patient perspective that is generalizable to the broader population.
The primary objective was to quantify the unmet needs of patients diagnosed with depression treating with an SSRI or SNRI. The analysis used patient self-reported data from five European countries. The results demonstrated that approximately 80% of treated patients continue to exhibit symptoms of depression.
"These results highlight the need for new and better treatments to alleviate depression symptoms," said Samuel Wagner, Ph.D., R.Ph., Vice President, Health Economics and Outcomes Research, of Consumer Health Sciences. "Key markers were identified to help physicians in their diagnosis. In addition to a family history of depression, they're more likely to experience other co-morbid psychiatric conditions and report their depression as more severe than patients whose needs were met."
The results were based on an analysis of 53,000 patients from the 2007 National Health and Wellness Survey conducted in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. Inclusion criteria for the current analysis were diagnosed depression, treating with an SSRI or SNRI, and not diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Depression sufferers were asked to report on the following symptoms: bothered by feeling down, depressed or hopeless or bothered by having little interest or pleasure in doing things in the month prior to survey. Unmet needs were defined as an affirmative response to either of the above symptoms. Further analyses of these patients were also conducted by the scientific team at Consumer Health Sciences to more deeply understand the demographic, attitudinal and disease characteristics of patients with unmet needs.
About Consumer Health Sciences
Consumer Health Sciences is a leading source of disease-specific consumer health information for the pharmaceutical and life science industries. Its flagship product, the annual National Health and Wellness Survey (NHWS) database, is the largest self-reported patient database of its kind, providing market sizing, demographic, attitudinal, quality of life, resource utilization and treatment information in more than 100 therapeutic categories in the U.S., Europe and Japan. For more information, visit www.chsinternational.com.