Effects of Medication Therapy Management for Female Depressed Patients of Different Ages: A Stratified Randomized Controlled Trial

OBJECTIVE To assess the effect of medication therapy management(MTM) on symptom improvement and medication adherence in depressed female patients, and to explore the depression severity and adherence characteristics of female patients of different ages. METHODS A total of 180 female depressed patients from February 2022 to July 2022 were recruited and randomly divided into two groups according to age and depression severity: the control group and the management group,with 90 cases in each group. Patients in the control group were given conventional therapy, while those in the management group were given MTM on top of conventional therapy. The self-rating depression scale(SDS)was applied at enrollment and 3 months after treatment to assess symptom improvement in both groups, and the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale- 8(MMAS-8) was applied at the end of 4, 8 and 12 weeks of treatment to compare adherence differences between the two groups, and subgroup analysis was performed based on stratification factors. RESULTS A total of 147 patients completed all assessments and follow-up, and there was no statistically significant difference in drop-out rate between the control group and the management group(χ²=3.006, P=0.083). Patients who dropped-out with different depression severity were compared with those who did not, with a statistically significant difference(χ²=13.927, P=0.001). For the comparison of SDS scores by age group, the highest SDS scores before and after treatment were found in adolescence, followed by menopause, and the lowest in childbearing age, with statistically significant differences(P＜0.05). The SDS scores of each subgroup of different age groups and each subgroup of different depression severity in the management group were lower than those of the corresponding groups in the control group, with statistically significant differences except for the menopausal subgroup and the mild subgroup(P＜0.05). The overall compliance score of 176 patients was (5.69±1.37) points. In the full assessment the adherence scores were the highest in childbearing, followed by adolescence, and the lowest and the lowest in menopause, with statistically significant difference(χ²=6.61, P=0.037). The adherence scores of the different age groups were higher in the management group than those in the control group,with statistically significant differences in adolescence(χ²=25.573, P＜0.001), childbearing age(χ²=7.772, P=0.005)and menopause(χ²=19.776, P＜0.001) for the full assessment. Except for the 1st and 2nd follow-up in childbearing age, there were statistically significant differences between management group and control group at three age groups in the three follow-up visits(P＜0.05). CONCLUSION The depression severity in female depressed patients varies by age, with the heaviest in adolescence and the least severe in childbearing age. The overall level of medication adherence is low in female patients. The adherence is highest in childbearing age and lowest in menopause. MTM boasts to be effective in promoting symptom improvement and adherence in female depressed patients of different ages.