On finding depressed patients for clinical trials.

Abstract

A special clinic was set up in an attempt to overcome the problem of accumulating a sufficient number of depressed patients for inclusion in clinical trials. Only 21 patients of the 81 patients referred during 1 year fulfilled the criteria for inclusion in the trials. The function of the special clinic did not prove successful as a similar proportion of depressed patients was found in a comparison group referred to the district psychiatric outpatient clinic.