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Quality of Life in Bipolar Depression Linked to Quetiapine Use

By Paula Moyer

ATLANTA, GA -- May 27, 2005 -- Patients with bipolar disorder who are coping with depression experience not only a relief of symptoms, but also improvement in quality of life when they are treated with quetiapine (Seroquel), according to investigators who presented their findings here May 24^th at the 158^th Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA).

This finding shows that treatment with quetiapine addresses a key challenge in the treatment of bipolar disorder, according to principal investigator Jean Endicott, PhD. "If patients only have relief of symptoms but do not perceive treatment-associated improvement in quality of life or feel flat, they will discontinue treatment," she said.

Dr. Endicott is a professor of clinical psychology in the department of psychiatry at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University in New York, New York, United States. She added that feeling flat is a common complaint associated with mood stabilizers.

She and her co-investigators randomized 180 patients to receive quetiapine at a dose of 600 mg/d, 181 patients to receive the study drug at 300 mg/d, and 181 to receive placebo. The investigative team evaluated quality of life with the 16-item patient self-report short-form of the Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire (Q-LES-Q-SF) at baseline, week 4, and week 8. This was the first study in which investigators used the Q-LES-Q-SF to assess response to treatment in a trial involving patients with bipolar disorder, she said.

The patients taking quetiapine 600 mg/d experienced an average improvement of 11.7 over a baseline score of 34.1, and patients taking 300 mg/d experienced an average improvement of 10.8 over a baseline of 36.1. Those on placebo had an 6.4 improvement over a baseline of 34.2 (P < .001 for both doses over placebo).

"The findings show that you can not only treat bipolar depression with quetiapine but that patients will experience improved quality of life early on, as early as the fourth week of treatment," said Dr. Endicott, explaining that bipolar depression often does not respond to treatment until the sixth or eighth week of therapy.

"It's important to ask patients if they are getting enjoyment and satisfaction in the various aspects of their lives," she said. "If they aren't, they haven't had a full response."

Asking such questions has not been a routine part of psychiatric practice for many doctors until recently, she said. Quality of life research has only been prominent in the last couple of years in psychiatry, but now there is a movement to introduce measures of quality of life into medical practice for all psychiatric disorders.

The study population was drawn from the Bipolar Depression (BOLDER) study funded by AstraZeneca, which manufactures Seroquel. However, Dr. Endicott pointed out that in the current research, the investigative team approached the patients afresh with the questionnaire, and that the study was not simply a re-analysis of existing data.


[Presentation title: Efficacy of Quetiapine in Improving Quality of Life in Bipolar Depression: Abstract NR327.]

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