A NEW online tool that helps people choose the right antidepressant has resulted in them being more likely to stick with their treatment and experience improvement in symptoms.
The online tool, known as Petrushka, used AI and data from more than one million people to help them make decisions about which antidepressants would suit them best during a consultation with a clinician.
The study included around 500 people in Brazil, Canada and the UK, with half allocated to the Petrushka group and half receiving usual care to guide medication decisions.
The study found that those who used the tool were less likely to stop treatment over an eight week period (17% vs 27%) and were more likely to have improved depressive and anxiety symptoms at 24 weeks.
Patients taking the Petrushka-recommended treatment also reported having higher health-related quality of life at 24 weeks.
In the Petrushka group, mirtazapine (29%), escitalopram (28%), and vortioxetine (24%) were the top choices compared with sertraline (52%), citalopram (15%), and fluoxetine (9%) in the usual care group.
An accompanying editorial said accounting for patient preference appeared to offer important clinical benefit with little risk, cost, or treatment delay.
Interestingly, the researchers found that among those receiving the care of a primary care physician, Petrushka was more helpful, while for those seeing a psychiatrist, the differences were less pronounced - likely due to psychiatrists' experience and knowledge about a wide range of medications.
This suggests the tool could be best used in settings with limited access to psychiatrists.
The authors acknowledged several limitations with the study, including the open design, so patients and clinicians knew which group they were in.
Also, the Petrushka tool did not include information about all available antidepressants, and there was a large amount of missing data.
"There is a growing trend of incorporating the patient perspective into clinical management and health care decision-making, which may improve care and reduce costs," the researchers explained.
"In this trial, we demonstrated that antidepressant treatment can be optimised for individuals by using sociodemographic and clinical predictors," they wrote.
Read the research HERE. KB
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