The therapeutic effect of mirtazapine in treatment of patients with insomnia and depression

Objective To observe the therapeutic efficacy and safety of mirtazapine in the treatment of patients with insomnia with depression.Methods Sixty-six patients with insomnia and depression were randomly divided into two groups, 34 cases of the mirtazapine treatment group,oral mirtazapine 7.5～30 mg/d,the other 32 patients with oral sertraline 50～75 mg/d as a control group,lasted for 8 weeks.Hamilton Depression Rating Scale(HAMD) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were evaluated to assess the depressive symptoms and sleep improve,and the reducing rate of both scales were used to assess the clinical efficacy such as the effect of depression and sleep improvement.Treatment Emergent Symptom Scale (TESS) was used to evaluate the drug safety.Results(1 ) As for the HAMD total score,at the end of 1st week,the score in the mirtazapine treatment group decreased than the sertraline treatment group,and there were statistically significant differences (P0.05);At the 2nd,4th,8th weeks,the HAMD total score of the mirtazapine treatment group was lower than that of sertraline treatment group,but the difference was not statistically significant(P0.05).(2) At the 1st,2nd,4th,8th weeks after treatment,the PSQI total score in the mirtazapine treatment group decreased than that of the sertraline treatment group,and the difference was statistically significant(P0.05).(3) Comparison between the two groups in clinical effect at the 1st weekend after treatment,the mirtazapine treatment group was 78.1%(25/32),while the sertraline treatment group was 40.0%(12/30),there were statistically significant differences(P0.05);At the 2nd,4th,8th weeks,the difference was not significantly different(P0.05).(4) The incidence of adverse drug reactions between the two groups were not significantly different(P0.05).Conclusion It proved that the mirtazapine was an effective,rapid onset drug in patients with insomnia and depression,the adverse effect was slight,and it was more suitable than the sertraline in patients with insomnia and depression.