Britt M. Gott

Antidepressant Pharmacotherapy in Adults with Type 2 Diabetes: Rates and Predictors of Initial Response

OBJECTIVE Initial treatment with antidepressant medication is insufficiently effective in some patients with type 2 diabetes, and factors predicting treatment outcome are poorly understood. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Aggregate data from two published trials were analyzed to determine the rates and predictors of response to antidepressant pharmacotherapy in adults with type 2 diabetes using conventional markers of initial treatment outcome (improvement, response, partial remission, and remission). Three hundred eighty-seven patients who received up to 16 weeks of open-label, acute-phase treatment using bupropion (n = 93) or sertraline (n = 294) were studied. Logistic regression was used to identify predictors of poor treatment outcome. Candidate predictors included age, race, sex, initial Beck Depression Inventory (iBDI) score, treatment received (sertraline or bupropion), family history of depression, extant diabetes complications (eDC), and A1C level. RESULTS Of 387 patients initiated on treatment, 330 (85.3%) met criteria for improvement, 232 (59.9%) for response, 207 (53.5%) for partial remission, and 179 (46.3%) for full remission. Significant independent predictors of poor outcome included eDC (for no improvement); sertraline treatment, eDC, and younger age (for nonresponse); sertraline treatment, eDC, and higher iBDI (for failure to partially remit); and younger age and higher iBDI (for failure to fully remit). Higher pain scores predicted three of the four markers of poor outcome in the subset with pain data. CONCLUSIONS In patients with type 2 diabetes, poor initial response to antidepressant medication is predicted by multiple factors. Auxiliary treatment of pain and impairment may be required to achieve better outcomes.

Improvement in Sexual Functioning in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes and Depression Treated With Bupropion

OBJECTIVE Major depressive disorder (MDD) and type 2 diabetes have independent adverse effects on sexual functioning (SF). Bupropion (BU) reportedly has few sexual side effects, but its use in diabetes has not been studied. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This article reports a planned secondary analysis of SF in 90 patients with type 2 diabetes treated with BU for MDD. RESULTS At baseline, 71.1% of patients had insufficient SF. Mean Sexual Energy Scale (SES) scores improved during treatment (P < 0.0001), as did the percentage with sufficient SF (30.6 vs. 68.1%, P = 0.001). Patients with persistent hyperglycemia had higher rates of sexual dysfunction; however, SES improvement was evident in some with persistent depression or hyperglycemia (18.2% and 25.9%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS Insufficient SF is prevalent and may be suspected in patients with MDD and type 2 diabetes. BU treatment of MDD had few sexual side effects and was associated with significant improvements in SF.

The impact of abuse and mood on bowel symptoms and health‐related quality of life in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common abdominal pain disorder without an organic explanation. Abuse histories (physical, sexual, emotional) are prevalent in IBS. While abuse relates to mood disorders (depression and anxiety) also common in IBS, the influence of abuse on gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and health‐related quality of life (HRQOL) and its independence from psychological symptom comorbidity has not been studied.

Beliefs about GI medications and adherence to pharmacotherapy in functional GI disorder outpatients.

Objectives:Pharmacotherapy is a mainstay in functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorder (FGID) management, but little is known about patient attitudes toward medication regimens. Understanding patient concerns and adherence to pharmacotherapy is particularly important for off-label medication use (e.g., antidepressants) in FGID.Methods:Consecutive tertiary GI outpatients completed the Beliefs About Medications questionnaire (BMQ). Subjects were categorized as FGID and structural GI disease (SGID) using clinician diagnoses and Rome criteria; GI-specific medications and doses were recorded, and adherence to medication regimens was determined by patient self-report. BMQ domains (overuse, harm, necessity, and concern) were compared between FGID and SGID, with an interest in how these beliefs affected medication adherence. Psychiatric measures (depression, anxiety, and somatization) were assessed to gauge their influence on medication beliefs.Results:A total of 536 subjects (mean age 54.7±0.7 years, range 22–100 years; n=406, 75.7% female) were enrolled over a 5.5-year interval: 341 (63.6%) with FGID (IBS, 64.8%; functional dyspepsia, 51.0%, ≥2 FGIDs, 38.7%) and 142 (26.5%) with SGID (IBD, 28.9%; GERD, 23.2%). PPIs (n=231, 47.8%), tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) (n=167, 34.6%), and anxiolytics (n=122, 25.3%) were common medications prescribed. FGID and SGID were similar across all BMQ domains (P>0.05 for overuse, harm, necessity, and concern). SGID subjects had higher necessity-concern framework (NCF) scores compared with FGID subjects (P=0.043). FGID medication adherence correlated negatively with concerns about medication harm (r=−0.24, P<0.001) and overuse (r=−0.15, P=0.001), whereas higher NCF differences predicted medication compliance (P=0.006). Medication concern and overuse scores correlated with psychiatric comorbidity among FGID subjects (P<0.03 for each). FGID patients prescribed TCAs (n=142, 41.6%) expressed a greater medication necessity (17.4±0.4 vs. 16.2±0.4, P=0.024) and found their GI regimen to be more helpful (P=0.054). FGID subjects not on TCAs expressed a greater apprehension about medication overuse (10.7±0.3 vs. 9.7±0.2, P=0.002) on the BMQ.Conclusions:FGID subjects report medication necessity and concern scores comparable to patients with SGID but have negative perceptions about medications, particularly in the presence of psychiatric comorbidity; these factors may affect treatment adherence and willingness to initiate neuromodulator regimens.

Witnessed versus Unwitnessed Random Urine Tests in the Treatment of Opioid Dependence

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Clinics licensed to provide pharmacotherapy for opiate dependence disorder are required to perform random urine drug screen (RUDS) tests. The results provide the empirical basis of individual treatment and programmatic effectiveness, and public health policy. Patients consent to witnessed testing but most tests are unwitnessed. The purpose of the present study was to compare treatment effectiveness estimates derived from witnessed versus unwitnessed urine samples. METHODS We adopted a policy requiring visually witnessed urine drug screens (WUDS) and studied its impact (a single group, pretest-posttest design) on the RUDS test results in 115 male veterans enrolled in the St. Louis VA Opioid Treatment Program. RESULTS The percentage of opioid-positive urine samples increased significantly following implementation of WUDS (25% vs. 41%, χ(2) = 66.5, p < .001). CONCLUSIONS AND SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE Results of this preliminary study suggest that random testing alone does not ensure the integrity of UDS testing. Outcome calculations based on random unwitnessed tests may overestimate the effectiveness of opioid dependence disorder treatment.

Tricyclic Antidepressants and Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors: Are They Too Old for a New Look?

Through unintentional discovery, monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) and tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) were the first antidepressant classes to be used clinically and have been widely available for over half a century. From the 1950s to the 1980s, these two classes of antidepressants were the sole antidepressant tools available to psychiatrists. With the advent of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in the 1980s and 1990s, the prescribing of the MAOIs and TCAs has fallen significantly worldwide. In this chapter, we take a closer look at the arc of MAOI discovery and clinical use, and how these two classes of drugs compare to each other. This is important because relatively few studies compare these older classes of drugs to the newer classes of antidepressants. Finally, we argue that TCAs, and particularly MAOIs, should continue to play an important role in the modern treatment of depression, especially in the treatment-resistant patient.

Opioid medication use in patients with gastrointestinal diagnoses vs unexplained gastrointestinal symptoms in the US Veterans Health Administration

While opioid prescriptions have increased alarmingly in the United States (US), their use for unexplained chronic gastrointestinal (GI) pain (eg, irritable bowel syndrome) carries an especially high risk for adverse effects and questionable benefit.

Mo1278 Review of Systems and Medication Allergies Predict Presence and Severity of Functional GI Disorders (FGIDs)

Background: IBS is a common functional GI syndrome with a prominent pain component. History of physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse is more prevalent among IBS sufferers. Previously we reported that abuse is linked to more severe and frequent IBS symptoms and poorer health related quality of life (HRQOL). If abuse experiences heighten brain neurocircuitry sensitivity to pain experiences as has been suggested (Ringel Y et al Gastroenterol 2008), this study then sought to examine the effects of an abuse history on rates of functional GI disorder (FGID) diagnoses, non-GI diagnoses, and recent pain symptoms among an IBS population; further, we aimed to determine whether experiences of multiple forms of abuse resulted in greater likelihood of developing functional GI and non-GI complaints. Methods: Consecutive GI outpatients were invited to complete ROME III Research Diagnostic Questionnaire to establish FGID criteria. Self-report questionnaires on abuse history (Life-Stress Questionnaire) were obtained, with a focus on physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. IBS patients with histories of any form of these abuse experiences were defined as IBS+/Abuse+. Recent non-GI somatic symptoms (PHQ-12), and historical somatic pain diagnoses (e.g., fibromyalgia, headache, chronic back pain) were recorded. 272 ROMEdefined IBS subjects (50.1±0.9 yrs, 81% female) were identified, and reported greater rates of abuse compared to a non-IBS comparator group (n=246): physical (18.1% vs 6.6%), sexual (15.5% vs 7.4%), and emotional (31.7% vs 16.9%) (p 1 form of abuse. Compared to IBS subjects without abuse histories (IBS+/Abuse-), IBS+/Abuse+ subjects had greater total numbers of ROME diagnoses (2.5±0.3 vs 2.1±0.3, p=0.10), non-GI pain diagnoses (1.9±0.2 vs. 0.9±0.08, p<0.001), and more recent somatic symptoms (9.6±0.5 vs. 7.7±0.4, p=0.001). All forms of abuse experiences imposed similar risk of functional syndromes. An additive effect of multiple forms of abuse was observed, such that greater numbers non-GI pain disorders (F=13.5, p<0.001) and somatic symptom complaints (F=5.8, p=0.001) were noted with the experience of multiple forms of abuse. This additive effect was not relevant to the number of ROME diagnoses recorded, however (F=0.69, p=0.55). Conclusions: Abuse experiences common in IBS patients are associated with reports of greater non-GI symptoms, historical somatic diagnoses, and to a lesser extent additional FGID diagnoses in IBS patients; these relationships are particularly robust when multiple forms of abuse have been experienced. These observations provide indirect evidence of an enhanced susceptibility to both GI and somatic functional disorders following abuse.

Mo1276 Abuse Histories Predict Greater Functional GI and Pain Comorbidities in Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) Patients

Background: IBS is a common functional GI syndrome with a prominent pain component. History of physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse is more prevalent among IBS sufferers. Previously we reported that abuse is linked to more severe and frequent IBS symptoms and poorer health related quality of life (HRQOL). If abuse experiences heighten brain neurocircuitry sensitivity to pain experiences as has been suggested (Ringel Y et al Gastroenterol 2008), this study then sought to examine the effects of an abuse history on rates of functional GI disorder (FGID) diagnoses, non-GI diagnoses, and recent pain symptoms among an IBS population; further, we aimed to determine whether experiences of multiple forms of abuse resulted in greater likelihood of developing functional GI and non-GI complaints. Methods: Consecutive GI outpatients were invited to complete ROME III Research Diagnostic Questionnaire to establish FGID criteria. Self-report questionnaires on abuse history (Life-Stress Questionnaire) were obtained, with a focus on physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. IBS patients with histories of any form of these abuse experiences were defined as IBS+/Abuse+. Recent non-GI somatic symptoms (PHQ-12), and historical somatic pain diagnoses (e.g., fibromyalgia, headache, chronic back pain) were recorded. 272 ROMEdefined IBS subjects (50.1±0.9 yrs, 81% female) were identified, and reported greater rates of abuse compared to a non-IBS comparator group (n=246): physical (18.1% vs 6.6%), sexual (15.5% vs 7.4%), and emotional (31.7% vs 16.9%) (p 1 form of abuse. Compared to IBS subjects without abuse histories (IBS+/Abuse-), IBS+/Abuse+ subjects had greater total numbers of ROME diagnoses (2.5±0.3 vs 2.1±0.3, p=0.10), non-GI pain diagnoses (1.9±0.2 vs. 0.9±0.08, p<0.001), and more recent somatic symptoms (9.6±0.5 vs. 7.7±0.4, p=0.001). All forms of abuse experiences imposed similar risk of functional syndromes. An additive effect of multiple forms of abuse was observed, such that greater numbers non-GI pain disorders (F=13.5, p<0.001) and somatic symptom complaints (F=5.8, p=0.001) were noted with the experience of multiple forms of abuse. This additive effect was not relevant to the number of ROME diagnoses recorded, however (F=0.69, p=0.55). Conclusions: Abuse experiences common in IBS patients are associated with reports of greater non-GI symptoms, historical somatic diagnoses, and to a lesser extent additional FGID diagnoses in IBS patients; these relationships are particularly robust when multiple forms of abuse have been experienced. These observations provide indirect evidence of an enhanced susceptibility to both GI and somatic functional disorders following abuse.