Folate augmentation of treatment - evaluation for depression (FolATED): protocol of a randomised controlled trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Clinical depression is common, debilitating and treatable; one in four people experience it during their lives. The majority of sufferers are treated in primary care and only half respond well to active treatment. Evidence suggests that folate may be a useful adjunct to antidepressant treatment: 1) patients with depression often have a functional folate deficiency; 2) the severity of such deficiency, indicated by elevated homocysteine, correlates with depression severity, 3) low folate is associated with poor antidepressant response, and 4) folate is required for the synthesis of neurotransmitters implicated in the pathogenesis and treatment of depression.

Methods/design

The primary objective of this trial is to estimate the effect of folate augmentation in new or

SUBMITTER: Roberts SH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2238748 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature