Real-world clinical outcomes and treatment patterns in patients with MDD treated with vortioxetine: a retrospective study

Background This study included evaluation of the effectiveness of vortioxetine, a treatment for adults with major depressive disorder (MDD), using patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) in a real-world setting. Methods This retrospective chart review analyzed the care experiences of adult patients with a diagnosis of MDD from Parkview Physicians Group – Mind-Body Medicine, Midwestern United States. Patients with a prescription for vortioxetine, an initial baseline visit, and ≥ 2 follow-up visits within 16 weeks from September 2014 to December 2018 were included. The primary outcome measure was effectiveness of vortioxetine on depression severity as assessed by change in Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scores ~ 12 weeks after initiation of vortioxetine. Secondary outcomes included changes in depression-related symptoms (i.e., sexual dysfunction, sleep disturbance, cognitive function, work/social function), clinical characteristics, response, remission, and medication persistence. Clinical narrative notes were also analyzed to examine sleep disturbance, sexual dysfunction, appetite, absenteeism, and presenteeism. All outcomes were examined at index (start of vortioxetine) and at ~ 12 weeks, and mean differences were analyzed using pairwise t tests. Results A total of 1242 patients with MDD met inclusion criteria, and 63.9% of these patients had ≥ 3 psychiatric diagnoses and 65.9% were taking ≥ 3 medications. PHQ-9 mean scores decreased significantly from baseline to week 12 (14.15 ± 5.8 to 9.62 ± 6.03, respectively; p < 0.001). At week 12, the response and remission rates in all patients were 31.0% and 23.1%, respectively, and 67% continued vortioxetine treatment. Overall, results also showed significant improvements by week 12 in anxiety ( p < 0.001), sexual dysfunction ( p < 0.01), sleep disturbance ( p < 0.01), cognitive function ( p < 0.001), work/social functioning ( p = 0.021), and appetite ( p < 0.001). A significant decrease in presenteeism was observed at week 12 ( p < 0.001); however, no significant change was observed in absenteeism ( p = 0.466). Conclusions Using PROMs, our study results suggest that adults with MDD prescribed vortioxetine showed improvement in depressive symptoms in the context of a real-world clinical practice setting. These patients had multiple comorbid psychiatric and physical diagnoses and multiple previous antidepressant treatments had failed.