Study Evaluating Desvenlafaxine Succinate Sustained Release (DVS SR) vs. Escitalopram in Postmenopausal Women

A response is defined as ≥ 50% decrease from baseline on Hamilton Psychiatric Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D17) score. HAM-D17 is a standardized, clinician-administered rating scale that assesses 17 items characteristically associated with major depression. Individual items are scored on a 0 to 2 or 4 scale (0=none/absent and 4=most severe) for a maximum total score of 50.

Remission is defined as a Hamilton Psychiatric Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D17) score of ≤ 7. HAM-D17 is a standardized, clinician-administered rating scale that assesses 17 items characteristically associated with major depression. Individual items are scored on a 0 to 2 or 4 scale (0=none/absent and 4=most severe) for a maximum total score of 50.

CGI-I is a global rating scale that measures disease improvement. Using a 7-point scale, the clinician rates how much the patient's illness has improved or worsened relative to the baseline status (1= very much improved; 7= very much worse).

CGI-S is a global rating scale that measures the severity of a patient's disease. Using a 7-point scale, the clinician rates the severity of the patient's mental illness at the time of the assessment, relative to the clinician's experience with patients who have the same diagnosis (1= normal; 7= extremely ill).

The HAM-A is a standardized, clinician-administered rating scale that assesses 14 items characteristically associated with major anxiety disorders. Items are scaled 0 - 4 (0=none and 4=very severe), with a maximum total score of 56. Change= 8 week adjusted mean HAM-A total score minus baseline adjusted mean total score.

EQ-5D is a standardized, subject-administered measure of health outcome. It provides a descriptive profile for 5 dimensions (mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, anxiety/depression), using 3 levels (no, moderate, or extreme problems) and a single index value characterizing current health status using a 100-point visual analog scale (0=worst, 100=best). EQ-5D summary index is obtained with a formula that weights each level of the dimensions. The index-based score is interpreted along a continuum of 0 (death) to 1 (perfect health). Change=8 week score minus baseline score.

Patients achieving a response to treatment at the end of the 8-week acute double blind (DB) phase continued the same treatment in a 6-month DB continuation phase and were evaluated to see if the response was maintained. A response is defined as ≥ 50% decrease from baseline on Hamilton Psychiatric Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D17) score. HAM-D17 is a standardized, clinician-administered rating scale that assesses 17 items characteristically associated with major depression. Individual items are scored on a 0 to 2 or 4 scale (0=none/absent and 4=most severe) for a maximum total score of 50.

Patients achieving a response to treatment at the end of the 8-week acute double blind (DB) phase continued the same treatment in a 6-month DB continuation phase and were evaluated to see if remission was achieved. Remission is defined as a Hamilton Psychiatric Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D17) score of ≤ 7. HAM-D17 is a standardized, clinician-administered rating scale that assesses 17 items characteristically associated with major depression. Individual items are scored on a 0 to 2 or 4 scale (0=none/absent and 4=most severe) for a maximum total score of 50.

Patients achieving a response to treatment (Responders) at the end of the 8-week acute double blind (DB) phase continued into a 6-month DB phase. Responders without remission at 8 weeks were assessed for remission status during the 6-month continuation. Remission defined as a Hamilton Psychiatric Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D17) score ≤ 7. HAM-D17 is a standardized, clinician-administered rating scale assessing 17 items characteristically associated with major depression. Individual items scored on a 0 to 2 or 4 scale (0=none/absent and 4=most severe) for a maximum total score of 50.

Patients who didn't achieve a response to treatment at the end of the 8-week acute double blind phase entered into an OL treatment phase with DVS SR for 6 months and were evaluated to see if a response was achieved. A response is defined as ≥ 50% decrease from baseline on Hamilton Psychiatric Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D17) score. HAM-D17 is a standardized, clinician-administered rating scale that assesses 17 items characteristically associated with major depression. Individual items are scored on a 0 to 2 or 4 scale (0=none/absent and 4=most severe) for a maximum total score of 50.

Patients who did not achieve a response to treatment at the end of the 8-week acute double blind phase entered into an open label (OL) treatment phase with DVS SR for 6 months and were evaluated to see if remission was achieved. Remission is defined as a Hamilton Psychiatric Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D17) score of ≤ 7. HAM-D17 is a standardized, clinician-administered rating scale that assesses 17 items characteristically associated with major depression. Individual items are scored on a 0 to 2 or 4 scale (0=none/absent and 4=most severe) for a maximum total score of 50.

DESS is a clinician-administered 43-item assessment that evaluates discontinuation-emergent symptoms resulting from the withdrawal from test article. The DESS total score is the sum of the number of new symptoms and old (but worse) symptoms that appeared during tapering of the test article. A higher score indicates more symptoms. The DESS score was assessed by status of taper.