Report Points to Limits of Some Antidepressants

Report Points to Limits of Some Antidepressants
Researchers say unpublished studies show Prozac and three similar drugs have significant results only in the most severely depressed.
12 March 2008

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

A study has raised new questions about the effectiveness of several popular drugs for depression. These antidepressants are known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

S.S.R.I.s are designed to help keep serotonin, a brain chemical, at a continuous level. The new study suggests that they provide little help to the large majority of the millions who take them.

Scientists from Britain, Canada and the United States did the study. It was a meta-analysis, a study of studies.

The team used an American law, the Freedom of Information Act, to get unpublished reports on thirty-five clinical trials of four drugs. Drug companies gave these and published studies to the Food and Drug Administration for approval of the medicines.

In the clinical trials, people with depression were treated with either an antidepressant or a placebo, a pill that contains no medicine. They did not know which they got.

The new report says those who received medicine did improve. But comparable numbers of those who received placebos also improved. The report says the drugs had meaningful results only in the most severely depressed patients.

The two best-known drugs in the study were fluoxetine, better known as Prozac, and paroxetine, sold in the United States under the name Paxil. The other drugs were venlafaxine and nefazodone.

The Public Library of Science published the findings last month in the journal PLoS Medicine.

Benedetto Vitiello is a psychiatrist at the United States National Institute of Mental Health. Doctor Vitiello, who was not involved in the study, says the findings came as no great surprise. He says psychiatrists have known for years that S.S.R.I.s work best in the sickest patients.

But he says it is important for people who need help not to delay seeking help as a result of the new report.

Critics of the report say S.S.R.I.s can take more time to begin working than the studies permitted. They also note that doctors sometimes try several antidepressants on a patient before choosing one for treatment.

Future antidepressants might have targets other than serotonin. Scientists funded by the National Institute of Mental Health have found that an enzyme called GSK3B might play a big part in depression. They found that mice with low serotonin levels and signs of depression improved when the enzyme was blocked.

And that’s the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. I’m Mario Ritter.


----------------------------Google Translate
报告指出，限制了一些抗抑郁药
研究人员说，没有发表的研究显示，百忧解和三个类似的药物有显着的效果，只有在最严重的萧条。
2008年3月12日

这是美国之音特别英语卫生报告。

一项研究提出了一些新问题，对效能几种流行的毒品为抑郁症。这些抗抑郁药被称作选择性血清素再吸收抑制剂。

SSRIs类药物，目的在于帮助维持羟色胺，大脑的化学物质，在一个持续的水平。新的研究显示，他们提供的帮助不大，大部分以百万计的人服用它们。

科学家来自英国，加拿大和美国做的研究报告。这是一个Meta分析，研究主题的研究。

研究小组利用美国的法律，资讯自由法，以获得未发表的报告，对35临床试验的4种药物。制药公司给这些并出版了研究，以美国食品和药物管理局批准的药品。

在临床试验中，人与抑郁症的治疗，不论是抗抑郁或安慰剂，这种药丸含有没有药品。他们不知道他们所得到的。

这份新的报告说，那些收到药确有改善。但比较数字的那些收到安慰剂也有所改善。报告指出，该药物已取得有意义的成果，只有在最严重的抑郁症患者。

这两个最知名的药物在研究氟西汀，更好地称为百忧解，帕罗西汀，在美国销售的名义下， paxil 。其他药物文拉法辛与法唑酮。

公共图书馆科学的结果，已发表在上个月在Journal plos医药。

benedetto vitiello是一个精神科医生，在美国国家心理健康研究所。医生vitiello ，他并没有参与这项研究说，研究结果也没有什么很大的惊喜。他说，精神病医生已认识多年的SSRIs类药物的工作，最好在病情严重的病人。

但他说，这是很重要需要帮助的人不延误寻求帮助，由于新的报告。

批评这项报告说， SSRIs类药物，可以采取更多的时间开始工作，比学习不允许的。他们还指出，医生有时会尝试几种抗抑郁剂对一个病人，才选择一个接受治疗。

未来抗抑郁药可能有其他的目标，比羟色胺。科学家经费，由国家心理健康研究所发现一种酶称为gsk3b可能发挥很大一部分抑郁症。他们发现，老鼠与低羟色胺水平和抑郁症征兆时，提高了酶堵住了。

这也是该美国之音特别英语卫生报告，写caty维夫。我马里奥里特尔。