A collaborative research by a team led by Prof Xiang Yutao from the University of Macau’s (UM) Faculty of Health Sciences and the National Clinical Research Centre of Mental Disorders have found that measurement-based care (MBC) is more effective than standard treatment in improving depressive symptoms of patients with major depression and in achieving a complete clinical remission.
The concept of measurement-based care (MBC) has been gaining attention in the treatment of depression because it allows psychiatrists to individualise treatment decisions for each patient based on the changes of psychopathology and tolerance toward antidepressants. Several earlier studies have found that MBC can be successfully integrated into clinical practice and improve patients’ outcomes, but some common weaknesses, including lack of randomization and of masked raters could have biased the findings.
In their study, 120 patients with moderate-severe major depression were consecutively randomised to 24 weeks of MBC or standard treatment. Outcomes were evaluated by raters masked to study protocol and treatment. The study shows that significantly more MBC-treated patients reached response (86.9 % vs. 62.7%) and remission (73.8% vs. 28.8%). Similarly, time to response and remission were significantly shorter with MBC. Study discontinuation, adverse effects, and concomitant medications did not differ between the study groups. The results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of MBC in patients with moderate-severe major depression, suggesting that MBC can be incorporated into the clinical care of patients with major depression.
Prof Xiang is currently an associate professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at UM. His research focuses on health service research, mood disorders, and psychopharmacology. Over the past eight years, Prof Xiang has authored or co-authored over 150 papers, which have been published in major international (SCI) journals, including The Lancet, The American Journal of Psychiatry, The British Journal of Psychiatry, and Sleep.
For Chinese version, please go to http://news.um.edu.mo/nrs/faces/pub/viewItem.jspx?id=34529&locale=zh_TW