Effects of moclobemide on depressive symptoms and cognitive performance in a geriatric population: a controlled comparative study versus imipramine.

Moclobemide, a novel monoamine oxidase-A reversible inhibitor with demonstrated antidepressive efficacy, was administered double-blind versus imipramine to aged depressive subjects. The two drugs were given for 60 days in increasing doses up to 600 mg for moclobemide and 100 mg for imipramine. Fifteen patients received moclobemide and 15 received imipramine. Psychiatric conditions and symptoms were rated at 0, 7, 14, 30, 45, and 60 days after the beginning of the trial by means of the Scale for the Assessment of Psychoorganic Syndromes, Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, Rome. Depression Inventory, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-X form, and the Clinical Global Impression Scale. Cognition was tested through the Benton visual retention test at days 0, 30, and 60 and the Digit Substitution Test of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale at days 0 and 60. Side effects were assessed through the Dosage Record Emergent Symptoms at days 0, 7, 14, 30, 45, and 60. The dropout rate was significantly greater in the moclobemide group. Both drugs induced an improvement in depressive and anxious symptomatology, with moclobemide showing a faster onset. Furthermore, moclobemide showed an enhancing effect on cognition, which was not shown by imipramine. Such results indicate that moclobemide could prove to be the drug of choice in geriatric depression, given that cognitive effects are prominent in the aged.