Platelet activation in depression and effects of sertraline treatment: An open-label study

Objective: The authors' goal was to determine whether sertraline attenuates the increased platelet activation seen among depressed patients. Method: They tested 21 otherwise healthy patients with untreated major depressive episode who were 25-52 years old and 21 age- and sex-matched comparison subjects. Patients received 6 weeks of sertraline treatment, and 17 returned for retesting. Results: At baseline, the depressed patients had greater platelet secretion than the Comparison subjects in response to collagen. Depressed patients with a family history of coronary disease had nonsignificanly greater wound-induced fibrinogen receptor binding than the other subjects. Platelet secretion response collagen was significantly reduced after treatment with sertraline. Conclusions: Sertraline diminished the increased platelet secretion found among depressed patients, although the findings are limited by a lack of a placebo control group.