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Thyroid Hormones Accelerate Depressive Response to Drug Therapy

Triiodothyronine (T3), a thyroid hormone, is efficacious in accelerating clinical response to tricyclic antidepressants in patients with non-refractory depression.

Women with depression may benefit more from the intervention than men with depression, researchers suggest.

They point out that delayed onset of therapeutic response to antidepressant therapy can be a major problem in treating patients with depression. One strategy that has been suggested to accelerate response is the early addition of thyroid hormones to antidepressants.

Investigators conducted a search of the literature to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to support the strategy.

They evaluated all double-blind, placebo-controlled studies investigating concomitant use of thyroid hormones with antidepressants for non-refractory depression. They identified six studies.

"All were conducted with T3 and a tricyclic antidepressant," the researchers report. "Five of the six studies found T3 to be significantly more effective than placebo in accelerating clinical response.

Investigators say they found that the average effect was highly significant.

"Further, the effects of T3 acceleration were greater as the percentage of women participating in the study increased."

They concluded: "This meta-analysis supports the efficacy of T3 in accelerating clinical response to tricyclic antidepressants in patients with non-refractory depression."
American Journal of Psychiatry, 2001; 158: 1617-1622. "Does Thyroid Supplementation Accelerate Tricyclic Antidepressant Response? A Review and Meta-Analysis of the Literature"

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