From the Editor
State-of-the-art care for acute coronary syndrome includes oxygen and clot-busting drugs. Should it also include a depression screen and an antidepressant if necessary?
In this week’s Reading, we look at a new JAMA paper showing a response to escitalopram for patients post-ACS (Acute Coronary Syndrome) with depression. Though work has been done in this area before, this paper is an important contribution: it’s well designed, and offers a long follow-up period. Chonnam National University Medical School’s Jae-Min Kim and his co-authors conclude: “In this median 8.1-year follow-up of a randomized 24-week clinical trial of treatment for depression in patients with recent ACS, MACE [major adverse cardiac event] incidence was significantly lower in patients receiving escitalopram than those receiving placebo.”
We consider the paper and its implications.
Good EKG, good antidepressant?
Please note that there will be no Readings for the next two weeks.
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