ASSESSMENT OF FUNCTIONAL IMPROVEMENT AFTER PHARMACOGENOMICALLY GUIDED ANTIDEPRESSANT THERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH RECURRENT DEPRESSIVE DISORDER

Our study refers to a current topic, the treatment of patients with recurrent depressive disorder (RDD), for which pharmacogenetically guided antidepressant therapy offers the prospect of a personalized, more effective prescription. The functional outcome has become in the last decades of interest for cross-sectional diagnosis in psychiatric genetics. It is essential to know the clinical, demographic, and psychosocial variables that are associated with long-term functioning. The present study is a prospective clinical trial analyzing the clinical impact of pharmacogenomics on the management of patients with RDD. Applying a longitudinal model of analysis to samples of patients with RDD genetically tested as well as to patients who did not benefit from genetic testing, we compared the improvement of functionality measured by the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) score. The results indicate an improvement in function in genetically tested patients after three months and up to one year of treatment compared to nongenetically tested patients. One of the main qualities of our research is the longitudinal design that allows the follow-up of patients over a year by using the GAF to assess the functionality of patients at five specific intervals, starting from baseline and after treatment optimization. The information provided by our research could be used to the results of genetic tests.