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Duloxetine for Patients with COPD Suffering from Comorbid Depression
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Abebaw Yohannes, MSc, PhD, speaks about his team’s pilot study designed to assess the use of duloxetine for patients with COPD and comorbid depression.
Individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who also suffer from comorbid depression may be 3 times more likely to be admitted to a hospital compared to non-depressed individuals with COPD. Given that over 15 million people suffer from physician-diagnosed COPD and given the likelihood of such comorbidities, addressing depression has become a significant concern for some in the world of health care providers.
Abebaw Yohannes, MSc, PhD, a professor of physical therapy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Health Professions, is working with a team of investigators on a study assessing the feasibility of duloxetine as a treatment for depression among patients suffering from COPD. Yohannes spoke in the latest issue of The Respiratory Report, the quarterly pulmonology research newsletter powered by the American Lung Association Research Foundation, about his team’s work.
“We may ask why this study is needed,” Yohannes said. “We know from the literature that pharmacological interventions have been employed with the comorbidity of depression for moderate to severe COPD. However, they have been inconclusive. We're especially looking at using…selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, sNRIs, as the first line of treatment for major depression in the general population, because of their efficacy and their safety, compared to tricyclic antidepressants.”
Yohannes highlighted the pilot study’s examination of duloxetine as a newer sNRI and its potential for patients with depression and COPD.
“The overall aim, for one, is to examine attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs of patients…living with depression,” Yohannes said. “So we are hoping to conduct a semi-structured qualitative interview. Patients will be recruited from the outpatient clinic here at the University of Alabama healthcare system as well as Baylor College of Medicine. We’ll try, first, to elucidate the acceptability and attitudes of patients about antidepressant drug therapy, and also probe any fears and misconceptions as well as barriers and facilitators about the treatment.”
To learn more about Yohannes’s research, view the interview above or read his contribution to the second issue of The Respiratory Report here:
