A Comparison Study of Amitriptyline and Nortriptyline With Plasma Levels
- 1 May 1977
- journal article
- clinical trial
- Published by American Medical Association (AMA) in Archives of General Psychiatry
- Vol. 34 (5), 607-612
- https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.1977.01770170117012
Abstract
• Forty-one depressed outpatients were treated for six weeks after random assignment to amitriptyline hydrochloride (N = 22) or nortriptyline hydrochloride (N = 19). On a mean daily dose of 119 mg, amitriptyline-treated patients had a mean tricyclic level (amitriptyline plus nortriptyline) of 120 ng/ml. Nortriptylinetreated patients on a mean dose of 117 mg/day had a mean nortriptyline level of 141 ng/ml. The two drugs were equally effective in the treatment of depression. The correlation between the Hamilton Score and the mean tricyclic level was negative in the amitriptyline-treated patients (r = —0.54, P <.025) and positive in the nortriptyline-treated patients (r = 0.49, P <.05). Patients treated with amitriptyline or nortriptyline with plasma levels within the therapeutic range, defined in other laboratories, had a better response, as measured by the Hamilton Score (P<.001), Zung Score (P <.01), and percent recovered (P <.001), than those above or below the therapeutic range.Keywords
This publication has 11 references indexed in Scilit:
- Steady-state protriptyline levels in an outpatient populationAmerican Journal of Psychiatry, 1975
- Antidepressant Response to Tricyclics and Urinary MHPG in Unipolar PatientsArchives of General Psychiatry, 1975
- Plasma Binding of Imipramine and Clinical OutcomeAmerican Journal of Psychiatry, 1973
- Norepinephrine Metabolites as Biochemical Criteria for Classifying Depressive Disorders and Predicting Responses to Treatment: Preliminary FindingsAmerican Journal of Psychiatry, 1973
- PLASMA-NORTRIPTYLINE LEVELS IN ENDOGENOUS DEPRESSIONThe Lancet, 1973
- Comparative Trial of Nortriptyline and Amitriptyline in 100 Depressed PatientsAmerican Journal of Psychiatry, 1968
- Double-Blind Comparison of Nortriptyline and Amitriptyline in Depressive IllnessThe British Journal of Psychiatry, 1967
- The Influence of Case Selection and Dosage in an Antidepressant Drug TrialThe British Journal of Psychiatry, 1965
- A Self-Rating Depression ScaleArchives of General Psychiatry, 1965
- A RATING SCALE FOR DEPRESSIONJournal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 1960