Bipolar depression relapse risk reduced by modern antidepressants

Treatment with modern antidepressants may help prevent patients with bipolar disorder from relapsing into a depressive episode, according to an international clinical trial led by researchers at the University of British Columbia. Patients with bipolar disorder experience extreme changes in their emotional state that cycle through periods of intense highs and lows.

Results from the world’s first randomized clinical trial assessing the duration of adjunctive antidepressant therapy for the condition, suggest that extending the treatment period beyond current guidelines may help prevent depressive relapses.

The clinical trial involved 178 patients with bipolar I disorder who were in remission from a depressive episode following treatment with modern antidepressant drugs. The patients were randomly assigned to either continue antidepressant treatment for 52 weeks, or begin tapering off antidepressants at six weeks and switch to a placebo at eight weeks.

Over the year-long study, 46 per cent of patients in the placebo group experienced a relapse of a mood event, compared to only 31 per cent in the group that continued antidepressant treatment. While this primary outcome was not found to be statistically significant, the comparison included relapses that occurred during the first six weeks of the study when both groups were receiving the same treatment.

However, in an analysis from week six onward, when treatment between the two groups differed, patients that continued antidepressant treatment were 40 per cent less likely to experience a relapse of any mood event, and 59 per cent less likely to experience a depressive episode relative to the placebo group.

Reference: New England Journal of Medicine, DOI 10.1056/NEJMoa2300184