BROADCASTS.com

b'

https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/04/06/sscjc-real-world-depression-measurement/

The largest non-pharma antidepressant trial ever conducted just confirmed what we already knew: scientists love naming things after pandas.

We already had\\xa0PANDAS\\xa0(Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcus) and\\xa0PANDA\\xa0(Proton ANnhilator At DArmstadt). But the latest in this pandemic of panda pandering is the\\xa0PANDA\\xa0(Prescribing ANtiDepressants Appropriately) Study. A group of British scientists followed 655 complicated patients who received either placebo or the antidepressant sertraline (Zoloft\\xae).

The PANDA trial was unique in two ways. First, as mentioned, it was the largest ever trial for a single antidepressant not funded by a pharmaceutical company. Second, it was designed to mimic \\u201cthe real world\\u201d as closely as possible. In most antidepressant trials, researchers wait to gather the perfect patients: people who definitely have depression and definitely don\\u2019t have anything else. Then they get top psychiatrists to carefully evaluate each patient, monitor the way they take the medication, and exhaustively test every aspect of their progress with complicated questionnaires. PANDA looked for normal people going to their GP\\u2019s (US English: PCP\\u2019s) office, with all of the mishmash of problems and comorbidities that implies.