Ineffective SSRIs & All Antidepressants 20/05/2010 U.S.A. ++Star*D Outcome: Only 3% of Those Taking Antidepressants Had a Sustained Remission After 1 Year
Ineffective SSRIs & All Antidepressants 2010-05-20 U.S.A. ++Star*D Outcome: Only 3% of Those Taking Antidepressants Had a Sustained Remission After 1 Year [Light Red]
Summary:

Last paragraph reads:  ""Although the study's reports make no mention of this outcome, their data show that after a year of continuation treatment following remission, of the 4,041 patients who entered the program only 108 (3%) had a sustained remission -- all the other patients either dropped out or relapsed. Yet STAR*D's authors and the NIMH have publicized the study as showing a 67% success rate for antidepressants."


http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mad-in-america/201005/update-the-stard-report May 19, 2010, Psychiatry

http://web.archive.org/web/20131027131052/http://ssristories.com/show.php?item=4214

Update on the STAR*D Report

The documented recovery rate in the STAR*D trial--worse than thought?
Published on May 19, 2010

Two months ago, I wrote a post about a New Yorker article that reported that 67% of the depressed patients in the STAR*D trial "recovered." As I noted in that post, the 67% figure was a highly exaggerated number. Only 51% of the 3,671 patients who entered the trial ever remitted, even for a short period. Furthermore, only about 20% of the patients remitted and then reported to STAR*D investigators, at some point during a 12-month follow-up period, that they were still doing well.

But this left an obvious question, one that I hadn't been able to find an answer to in the published STAR*D reports. How many of the 3,671 people who entered the trial remitted and then stayed well and in the trial throughout the entire 12-month follow-up? That number would provide a documented long-term recovery rate for patients in the trial.

A few days ago, Allan Leventhal sent me a 2009 article he coauthored with David Antonuccio, and in it, they successfully identified this number (finding it in a confusing graphic I hadn't been able to decipher.) In their computations, they relied on STAR*D reports that told of 4,041 initial participants (3,671 was the number of "enrolled" patients counted in the analysis of drug-remission rates), and then they came to this bottom-line conclusion about the documented long-term recovery rate:

"Although the study's reports make no mention of this outcome, their data show that after a year of continuation treatment following remission, of the 4,041 patients who entered the program only 108 (3%) had a sustained remission -- all the other patients either dropped out or relapsed. Yet STAR*D's authors and the NIMH have publicized the study as showing a 67% success rate for antidepressants."