Mianserin and amitriptyline in elderly hospitalized patients with depressive illness: a double-blind trial

Abstract

SummaryA double-blind trial was carried out in 37 elderly, hospitalized patients with endogenous depression to compare the effectiveness of mianserin with that of amitriptyline. Patients received a mean daily dosage of 50 mg mianserin or 125 mg amitriptyline for 20 days. There was a statistically significant better response at the end of the trial period in the mianserin-treated group, as assessed on the Clinical Global Impressions scale but, although there was a marked difference between the two treatment groups in the mean total scores of the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, the difference was not statistically significant. The symptoms ‘depressed mood’, and ‘anxiety, somatic’, however, were more favourably influenced by mianserin than by amitriptyline. Typical symptoms of involutional depression such as ‘anxiety’ and'subjective feelings of restlessness’, as assessed on the AMP-system, were influenced significantly better in the mianserin group. The syndrome analysis of the AMP-system also showed s...