Depression in Adolescence
Conditions
Keywords
Depression, Adolescence, SSRI, Antidepressant, Pharmacogenetics
Brief summary
This is a parallel arm randomized (1:1) controlled trial. Adolescents aged 12-17 years (n=452) who are starting or changing a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) for depression will be randomly allocated to receive 12-weeks of pharmacogenetic-guided antidepressant therapy (experimental intervention) or GLAD-PC guided prescribing (control intervention).
Detailed description
Goal: To test the efficacy of pharmacogenetic-guided antidepressant prescribing for adolescents with depression. Background: For an adolescent with moderate to severe depression, antidepressant medication is prescribed, often in combination with psychotherapy. The class of antidepressants recommended for use is selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) with fluoxetine recommended as the first-line medication, and four other SSRIs recommended for consideration (sertraline, citalopram, escitalopram, fluvoxamine) if the adolescent does not respond or tolerate fluoxetine. For most adolescents, medication prescribing, and monitoring will be managed by a primary care physician or community pediatrician rather than by a mental health care provider, and guidelines exist to support this management (Guidelines for Adolescent Depression in Primary Care, GLAD-PC). However, GLAD-PC does not account for SSRI metabolism phenotypes that could change whether the SSRI selected is efficacious or tolerated. Our team of researchers, clinician scientists, patient partners, and primary care providers has designed a trial to test the impact of accounting for metabolism phenotypes, through pharmacogenetic-guided antidepressant prescribing, on adolescent outcomes, experiences, and health care utilization. Principal Question: Compared to GLAD-PC informed prescribing, does pharmacogenetic-guided prescribing for depressed adolescents have superior efficacy following 12-weeks of therapy with a SSRI? The Trial: This is a parallel arm randomized controlled trial. Adolescents aged 12-17 years (n=452) who are starting or changing a SSRI for depression will be randomly allocated to receive pharmacogenetic-guided antidepressant therapy (experimental intervention) or GLAD-PC guided prescribing (control intervention). Participants and prescribing physicians will be blinded to which intervention was received. The primary outcome is depressive symptom remission at 12 weeks measured using the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology - Adolescent (17-item) (QIDS-A17). Secondary outcomes include side effects, role functioning, medication adherence, and health-related quality of life measured 4-, 8-, and 12-weeks after intervention initiation as well as cost-effectiveness.
Interventions
SSRI dosing based on Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium's SSRI dosing guidelines.
OTHERGLAD-PC guided dosing
SSRI dosing based on GLAD-PC clinical practice guidelines
Sponsors
University of Alberta
University of Calgary
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
QUADRUPLE (Subject, Caregiver, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Masking description
Participants, their prescribing physician, and the investigator will all be blinded to study arm. The study coordinator will be the only one unblinded to study arm allocation.
Intervention model description
This is a parallel arm randomized controlled trial.
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
12 Years to 17 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Age 12-17 * Depression as the primary concern, confirmed by the treating physician * QIDS-A17 score greater than or equal to 11 indicating moderate-to-severe symptoms * Intention to start a new SSRI * English fluency
Exclusion criteria
* Co-occurring psychosis, bipolar disorder, eating disorder, autism spectrum disorder, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, or intellectual disability * A score of 2 or 3 on suicide item 13 of the QIDS-A17 * High-risk alcohol or substance use (excluding cannabis and tobacco) as indicated by a score of monthly or more on the S2BI * History of non-response to 3 or more SSRI medications as confirmed by the treating physician * Brain stimulation-based therapy initiated within 8 weeks of referral, or plans to initiate/change brain stimulation during study participation * History of liver or hematopoietic cell transplant * History of CYP2B6, CYP2C19, or CYP2D6 testing
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants with depression remission | Baseline to 12 weeks | Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology - Adolescent - 17-item (QIDS-A17) total score \< 6. Scores range from 0-27, with higher scores indicative of more severe depression. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Percent Change in Depressive Symptom Severity | Baseline to 12 weeks | Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology - Adolescent - 17-item (QIDS-A17). Scores range from 0-27, with higher scores indicative of more severe depression. |
| Change in health care utilization | Baseline to 12 weeks | Administrative data will be obtained on medication information (agent, dose, duration) and health care utilization (doctor visits, hospitalizations, emergency room visits). |
| Change in health-related quality of life | Baseline to 12 weeks | EuroQoL 5 Dimension - Youth (EQ-5D-Y). Five descriptive items code level of perceived problems in health states and a visual analog scale has a score from 0-100, with higher scores indicative of better health. |
| Change in behavioral activation | Baseline to 12 weeks | Emergence of activation based on Treatment-Emergent Activation and Suicidality Assessment Profile. Total scores range from 0-114 (38 items) with higher scores indicating greater behavioral activation. |
| Change in medication adherence | 4 to 12 weeks | Medication Adherence Report Scale (MARS-5) scores. Scores range from 5-25 with higher scores indicative of better medication adherence. |
| Number of participants with side effects and adverse drug reactions | Baseline to 12 weeks | Frequency, Intensity, Burden of Side Effects Rating (FIBSER) scale. Total scores range from 0-6 (3 items); cut-points are used to indicate moderate (score of 3) or severe (score of 5) adverse drug reaction/side effect interference with activities. |
| Percent Change in Role functioning | Baseline to 12 weeks | WHO Disability Assessment Schedule. Scores range from 0 to 48, with higher scores indicative of worse role functioning. |
| Percent Change in clinician assessment of depressive symptom severity | Baseline to 12 weeks | Change in Clinical Global Impression Severity (CGI-S) scale. Scores range from 0-7, with higher scores indicative of more severe illness. |
| Change in self-report health care resource use | Baseline to 12 weeks | Resource use questionnaire that captures number of visits and out-of-pocket costs for various mental health services. |
Other
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Blinding fidelity | 12 weeks | Physician-reported, 1-item survey about the perceived allocation of each of their participating patients; response options are 'PGx-guided prescribing', 'don't know' or 'GLAD-PC prescribing' |
| Intervention fidelity | 12 weeks | Physician-reported, two questions on use of recommendations in the dosing report. |
| Minimally clinically important differences | 12 weeks | Participant-reported, Global Rating of Change Scale (GRCS) (11-point Likert scale ranging from +5 to -5) to indicate the degree to which symptoms and role functioning changed for the better, for the worse, or no change was experienced. |
Countries
Canada
Outcome results
None listed