RESUMO
A study of medication compliance, side effects, and clinical change with the use of antidepressants in 32 Southeast Asian refugee patients seen at an urban mental health center is reported. Patients met criteria for either major depressive episode, posttraumatic stress disorder, or both. Only five of the 32 patients who stated that they were taking their medications regularly had antidepressant blood levels in the therapeutic range. Another 10 patients had subtherapeutic levels and the remaining 17 had undetectable blood levels. Patients with therapeutic blood levels had fewer side effects (p = 0.049) than patients with undetectable blood levels. Blood levels tended (p = 0.070) to be correlated with clinical improvement. The authors discuss cultural attitudes of Southeast Asian refugee patients toward medication use and side effects that appear to influence medication compliance.
Assuntos
Antidepressivos/uso terapêutico , Asiático/psicologia , Comparação Transcultural , Transtorno Depressivo/tratamento farmacológico , Cooperação do Paciente/psicologia , Refugiados/psicologia , Adulto , Antidepressivos/efeitos adversos , Antidepressivos/farmacocinética , Sudeste Asiático/etnologia , Transtorno Depressivo/sangue , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Minnesota , Transtornos de Estresse Pós-Traumáticos/tratamento farmacológicoRESUMO
The authors report on 404 Southeast Asian refugees seen at a community clinic. Approximately three-quarters of these patients met DSM-III criteria for major depressive episode, and 14% had posttraumatic stress disorder. Complaints of pain and sleep disturbances were the predominant presenting symptoms. Most of the men were married, but more than 40% of the women were widowed. Between 15% and 30% of the patients reported specific traumatic experiences either in their homeland or during their escape. Widowhood and such traumatic experiences were positively correlated with more symptoms of depression and anxiety.
