Can antidepressant prevent depression following a traumatic brain injury?

Researchers have launched a study to investigate whether a mild anti-depressant can reduce the incidence of depression following a traumatic brain injury.

Up to 50% of people who suffer a traumatic brain injury (TBI) go on to develop some form of depression in the 10 years following the injury, impairing their physical and mental recovery and quality of life. People with depression following a traumatic brain injury tend to die earlier than the rest of the population and are more likely to commit suicide.

The study, known as STOP-D, is taking place at Oxford University Hospitals in collaboration with Kings College London. It will recruit patients from nine major trauma centres in England, broadly representing the socioeconomic, geographical and ethnic diversity in TBI, and randomly assign them to receive either the mild antidepressant sertraline or a placebo for 12 months.

STOP-D will measure the effects of sertraline on depression and quality of life, as well as the impact on stress levels for carers at six weeks and three, six, nine and 12 months after receiving the first dose.

The study could have significant benefits for patients with a head injury and their carers by providing evidence for a cost-effective and safe intervention to prevent depression and improve outcomes. The study will link the research data with the participants' GP and hospital records to monitor their long-term health.

Co-chief Investigator on the study, Dr Vanessa Raymont of the University of Oxford's Psychiatry department and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, said: "Given that the risk of developing depression for those patients with TBI is so great, this study is a crucial step in supporting those patients to receive the best possible outcome for their long-term recovery and wellbeing.

"The risk of post-traumatic depression emerging so soon after a TBI suggests that initiation of an anti-depressant within a few weeks of the TBI could significantly reduce the incidence of PTD. Our findings will inform whether - and how - to integrate the screening and management for depression in TBI patients within major trauma centres nationally."

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