The concept of quality of life (QoL) is becoming an increasingly important criterion in assessing treatment outcomes and health outcomes and assessing the benefit-to-load ratio of drugs or therapies with equivalent mechanisms of action.

A recent study evaluated the improvement of quality of life, tolerability of therapy, and patient compliance in patients with depression and/or anxiety disorder treated with antidepressants.

The study involved 682 patients diagnosed with depression and/or anxiety disorder observed over nine months. It divided the patients into three groups: depressive, anxious, and mixed anxiety-depressive disorder, and administered them paroxetine or escitalopram. It then evaluated the quality of life using the MOS (Medical Outcomes Study) sleep scale and Q-LES-Q-SF (Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire-Short Form) scale. The study observed the patients six times throughout the study.

It found an improvement in the sleep problem index in >90 percent of patients with depression and/or anxiety disorder who had taken fluoxetine, paroxetine, or escitalopram for 36 weeks.

All antidepressants caused significant improvement in the sleep duration in all the patients. Q-LES-Q-SF questionnaire results showed a substantial improvement in quality of life and overall pleasure and satisfaction with life due to the use of antidepressants.

Thus, the treatment with fluoxetine, paroxetine, and escitalopram causes a significant improvement in all recorded parameters, along with the overall quality of life, making them very effective in treating depression and/or anxiety disorders.

Source:.Mater Sociomed. 2019 Mar;31(1):14-18. DOI: 10.5455/msm.2019.31.14-18. PMID: 31213949; PMCID: PMC6511371.