Trial of the Clinical and Cost Effectiveness of a Specialist Expert Mood Disorder Team for Refractory Unipolar Depressive Disorder

Overview

The purpose of this study is determine whether a specialised mood disorder service, which offers tailored psychological and pharmacological treatment, is more effective in the treatment of chronic unipolar depressive disorder then treatment as usual.

Full Title of Study: “Randomised Control Trial of the Clinical and Cost Effectiveness of a Specialist Expert Mood Disorder Team for Refractory Unipolar Depressive Disorder”

Study Type

  • Study Type: Interventional
  • Study Design
    • Allocation: Randomized
    • Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
    • Primary Purpose: Treatment
    • Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)
  • Study Primary Completion Date: September 2016

Detailed Description

A pragmatic randomised controlled trial of a specialist mood disorder intervention versus treatment as usual will be conducted. Patients will be individually randomised with stratification by mental health trust to either treatment by a specialist team offering tailored psychological and pharmacological treatment or treatment as usual. The specialist mood disorders team will include a psychiatrist and health professionals providing cognitive behaviour therapy. Together the team will assess participants and then provide a co-ordinated and supervised combination of pharmacological and psychological treatment according to guidelines developed by NICE and the British Association of Psychopharmacology. Each participant will receive a treatment plan that is tailored to his/her specific needs. The participants in the treatment as usual team will have their usual access to the same treatments. The outcome in terms of improvement in depressive symptoms, function and costs will be examined after one year in service users with chronic depression. Eligible patients will be followed for 12 months and the primary outcomes will be observer rated depressive symptoms and cost effectiveness from a health and social care perspective. Along side the RCT, implementation analysis and audit of the standard care and specialised care for depression will be carried out.

Interventions

  • Other: Specialist Mood Disorders Team
    • The specialist mood disorders team will include a psychiatrist and health professionals providing cognitive behaviour therapy. Together the team will assess participants and then provide a co-ordinated and supervised combination of pharmacological and psychological treatment according to guidelines developed by NICE and the British Association of Psychopharmacology. Each participant will receive a treatment plan that is tailored to his/her specific needs.

Arms, Groups and Cohorts

  • Experimental: Intervention
    • Specialist mood disorders team: treatment plan according to need
  • No Intervention: Treatment as usual

Clinical Trial Outcome Measures

Primary Measures

  • Hamilton Depression Rating Scale – Grid version
    • Time Frame: 6 months

Secondary Measures

  • Change in self rated depression measures: Beck Depression Inventory version 1; Personal Health Questionnaire; Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomology
    • Time Frame: 3 months
  • Cost utility or cost effectiveness using the Euroqol 5D as a measure of quality of life and costs from health and social care and society perspectives.
    • Time Frame: 6 months
  • Change in social adjustment (Cooper, Osborn, Gath & Feggetter, 1982), an assessment of social and occupational functioning.
    • Time Frame: 6 months
  • Patient satisfaction and patient/doctor relationship
    • Time Frame: 6 months

Participating in This Clinical Trial

Inclusion Criteria

  • The responsible medical officer or care coordinator leading care considers the patient to be suffering from a primary unipolar depressive disorder which is not a consequence of having another axis 1 or 2 psychiatric disorder. – Age over 18 years. – Able and willing to give oral and written informed consent to participation in the study. – From the date of first assessment by a health professional working for the index mental health trust, they have been offered or received direct care from one or more health professionals from the Trust three or more occasions for 6 months. – Meet NICE criteria for moderate depression, namely the presence of five out of nine symptoms of (NICE, 2004), have a Hamilton Depression Rating Scale of at least 20, and score 60 or less on the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Exclusion Criteria:

  • Is receiving emergency care for suicide risk, risk of severe neglect or homicide risk and requires it; however, patients will not be excluded because of such risk provided the risk is adequately contained with their current care setting and the primary medical responsibility for care remains with the referring team. – Does not speak fluent English. – Is pregnant

Gender Eligibility: All

Minimum Age: 18 Years

Maximum Age: N/A

Are Healthy Volunteers Accepted: No

Investigator Details

  • Lead Sponsor
    • University of Nottingham
  • Collaborator
    • National Institute for Health Research, United Kingdom
  • Provider of Information About this Clinical Study
    • Sponsor
  • Overall Official(s)
    • Richard Morriss, Principal Investigator, University of Nottingham
  • Overall Contact(s)
    • Sarah E Marttunen, MSc, +44(0)1158232478, sarah.marttunen@nottingham.ac.uk

References

Anderson IM, Ferrier IN, Baldwin RC, Cowen PJ, Howard L, Lewis G, Matthews K, McAllister-Williams RH, Peveler RC, Scott J, Tylee A. Evidence-based guidelines for treating depressive disorders with antidepressants: a revision of the 2000 British Association for Psychopharmacology guidelines. J Psychopharmacol. 2008 Jun;22(4):343-96. doi: 10.1177/0269881107088441. Epub 2008 Apr 15.

Baker R, Reddish S, Robertson N, Hearnshaw H, Jones B. Randomised controlled trial of tailored strategies to implement guidelines for the management of patients with depression in general practice. Br J Gen Pract. 2001 Sep;51(470):737-41.

Gilbody S, Bower P, Fletcher J, Richards D, Sutton AJ. Collaborative care for depression: a cumulative meta-analysis and review of longer-term outcomes. Arch Intern Med. 2006 Nov 27;166(21):2314-21. doi: 10.1001/archinte.166.21.2314.

Greden JF. The burden of disease for treatment-resistant depression. J Clin Psychiatry. 2001;62 Suppl 16:26-31.

Parker GB, Malhi GS, Crawford JG, Thase ME. Identifying "paradigm failures" contributing to treatment-resistant depression. J Affect Disord. 2005 Aug;87(2-3):185-91. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2005.02.015.

Rush AJ, Trivedi MH, Wisniewski SR, Nierenberg AA, Stewart JW, Warden D, Niederehe G, Thase ME, Lavori PW, Lebowitz BD, McGrath PJ, Rosenbaum JF, Sackeim HA, Kupfer DJ, Luther J, Fava M. Acute and longer-term outcomes in depressed outpatients requiring one or several treatment steps: a STAR*D report. Am J Psychiatry. 2006 Nov;163(11):1905-17. doi: 10.1176/ajp.2006.163.11.1905.

Warden D, Rush AJ, Trivedi MH, Fava M, Wisniewski SR. The STAR*D Project results: a comprehensive review of findings. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2007 Dec;9(6):449-59. doi: 10.1007/s11920-007-0061-3.

Sartorius N. The economic and social burden of depression. J Clin Psychiatry. 2001;62 Suppl 15:8-11.

Schramm E, Schneider D, Zobel I, van Calker D, Dykierek P, Kech S, Harter M, Berger M. Efficacy of Interpersonal Psychotherapy plus pharmacotherapy in chronically depressed inpatients. J Affect Disord. 2008 Jul;109(1-2):65-73. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2007.10.013. Epub 2007 Dec 11.

Sheldon TA, Cullum N, Dawson D, Lankshear A, Lowson K, Watt I, West P, Wright D, Wright J. What's the evidence that NICE guidance has been implemented? Results from a national evaluation using time series analysis, audit of patients' notes, and interviews. BMJ. 2004 Oct 30;329(7473):999. doi: 10.1136/bmj.329.7473.999.

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