The interventions have to focus primarily on the treatment of depressive symptoms and need to be acute treatments (maintenance or continuation treatments will be excluded).
Only acute treatments (no maintenance or continuation treatments) were included.
The majority of the identified models had a time horizon of 6 months, covering the acute and continuation phases, or the length of time that patients with a first episode of MDD should normally be treated [ 27].
The two major contributors to the discharge delays were intimately related in the elderly because of the requirement of referral to COTE consultants to facilitate rehabilitation or continuation of care outside the acute hospital setting.
One study [ 42] included multiple comparisons of treatments in acute and continuation phases (SSRIs, TCAs, CBT, and bibliotherapy) and in maintenance phase (TCAs, SSRIs, and various CBT options).
The majority of the reviewed models used a decision-tree structure, largely because the analyses explored the acute and continuation phases of depression and relied on clinical inputs from trials of 6 to 12 weeks in duration.
The study evaluates the comparative effects of a disorder-specific psychotherapy and a well designed non-specific psychological approach in the acute and continuation treatment phase in a large sample of early-onset chronically depressed patients.
The comparisons of MDD treatments evaluated in 30 of the included models focusing on acute and continuation phases are presented in Figure 5. Venlafaxine and escitalopram are the most intensively studied interventions, evaluated in 21 and 15 studies, respectively; followed by SSRIs as a drug class, which were examined in 10 studies, and TCAs as a drug class, which were compared in 6 studies.
The Reasons for Antipsychotic Discontinuation/Continuation (RAD) scales were developed to assess the specific reasons for antipsychotic discontinuation or continuation.
Patients were randomly assigned to discontinuation of (n = 113) or continuation of these drugs (n = 107).
