November 17, 1998
Web posted at: 8:21 p.m. EST (0121 GMT)

ATLANTA (CNN) -- New research suggests a popular drug for depression is safe and effective in long-term use -- good news for people who fear choosing between a crippling disease and an uncertain future.

A new study published in the November 18 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association indicates that sertraline, a popular antidepressant better known by its brand name, Zoloft, may be safe and effective maintenance treatment for long-term depression.

Dr. Martin Keller and colleagues at Brown University studied the use of Zoloft among 161 patients in a 76-week study supported partly through a grant from the drug's maker, Pfizer Inc.

The doctors found that depressive symptoms re-emerged in 20 (26 percent) of the 77 patients treated with Zoloft and 42 (50 percent) of the remaining 84 patients who were given an inactive placebo. None of the patients experienced harmful side effects during the year and a half period.

"Maintenance therapy with sertraline (Zoloft) is well tolerated and has significant efficacy in preventing recurrence or reemergence of depression," the study concluded.

Debilitating, costly disease

The World Health Organization recently identified chronic depression as one of the four most disabling diseases in the world, resulting in untold economic and social costs from the hindered capacity of its victims to carry out everyday functions, such as working or parenting.

For those who seek medical treatment for their illness, finding the right antidepressant drug is often a trial and error process.

More than half of all patients taking antidepressant medications are not satisfied with the first drug prescribed for them -- oftentimes the result of bad side effects. Others do not respond to their medication at all.

Margarite Adelman battled chronic depression four times in nearly 20 years before finding a medicine that works for her.

"It was amazing how many drugs I was on," she says. "Initially, they tried one thing, it didn't work. They tried another thing, that didn't work."

Zoloft is classified in a class of drugs know as Serotonin- Specific Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI), which include other popular antidepressants such as Prozac and Paxil. More studies are needed to determine the long-term effects of those drugs.

Correspondent Rhonda Rowland contributed to this report.