Wednesday, October 08, 2003

Understanding Clinical Trials in Context
Article in Medscape Psychopharmacology Today - "Recently, there has been a great deal of attention paid in the lay press to randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials. ... Clinicians need to be conversant and understand what randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials do and do not tell us. This is important not only to assist in clinical decision-making but also to be able to answer the inevitable questions from patients and their families. While I by no means intend to have the following be a comprehensive discussion of how to evaluate the quality of a clinical trial, here are a few things to think about when you look at data and try to decide how seriously to take them...." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Long-term Management of Bipolar Disorder
A new CME from Medscape. The Introduction notes, "Bipolar disorder is a chronic, recurrent illness associated with tremendous societal costs -- increased healthcare costs, loss of productivity, lower quality of life, and suicide. The illness is also characterized by increased risk of recurrence with age. However, maintenance treatment, in general, has been short-term and episode-focused. Maintenance treatment, in bipolar disorder, is achieved by using medications that, alone or in combinations, prevent the occurrence of new episodes, optimize socio-occupational functioning by keeping the severity of interepisode symptoms to a minimal level, and are tolerable to facilitate long-term compliance with the medication regimen. Remission and 'functional recovery,' the primary goals of treatment, are possible despite the complex nature of bipolar disorder." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Nursing kids on Prozac
US News & World Report story, based on a study published earlier this year in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry - "Babies with depressed moms tend to weigh less after six months than babies with happy moms; less weight often means more illness. But the same study that uncovered this disturbing fact has also turned up hope: Breast-fed babies grow better if depressed moms take drugs that alleviate depression. This challenges a popular belief that the traces of Prozac, Paxil, and similar drugs that seep into breast milk can harm a nursing infant..."