A double blind comparison was made in 78 ambulatory patients with depressions judged as mainly endogenous or depressions of endogenous type, upper age limit 62 years. In random order the patients were referred to two groups and obtained capsules either with imipramine 25 mg or protriptyline 5 mg.The initial dose was 4 capsules per day which was increased according to a fixed schedule to a maximum of 9 capsules after 10 days. After 14 days the doctor was free to dose accordmg to the degree of improvement and side effects, but it was endeavored that less than 6 capsules should not be given until after 4 meeks. Hypnotics were given when needed and in case of side effects chlorprothixene 45-75 mg per day. The patients were controlled after 1, 2, 4 and 8 weeks. The depressive symptoms were rated according to Cronholm-Ottosson depression scale and nine of the current side effects were rated (with 4 steps] where each step was defined from the way the side effect was handled by the doctor (therapy interrupted, chlorprothixene added or dose diminished). The global effect, considering both antidepressive effect and side effects, was rated in 7 categories which were assumed to be on an ordinal scale ( hypomanic, recovered, much improved, slightly improved, unchanged, impaired, and interrupted treatment). As estimates of the effect the median of the rating scores (global rating, side effects) or the median of the differences (from the initial values 1 of the rating scores (rating of symptoms and syndroms) was used. Significance was tested by means of non-parametric statistics ( Mann-Whitneys U ) .
ResultsOut of the 78 patients two were excluded (one proved to be pregnant, the other could not swallow the rather big capsules) leaving 76 for the evalua-239
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