Innovating Parkinson's Care: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Telemedicine Depression Treatment.

Dobkin RD, Mann SL, Weintraub D, Rodriguez KM, Miller RB, St Hill L, King A, Gara MA, Interian A. Innovating Parkinson's Care: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Telemedicine Depression Treatment. Movement Disorders : Official Journal of The Movement Disorder Society. 2021 Nov 1; 36(11):2549-2558.

Related HSR&D Project(s)

• IIR 14-353 – Telehealth Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Depression in Parkinson's Disease

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Abstract:

BACKGROUND: For several decades, a myriad of factors have contributed to the inadequate diagnosis and management of depression in Parkinson''s disease (PD), leaving up to 60% of significantly symptomatic patients untreated. Poor access to evidence-based neuropsychiatric care is one major barrier to achieving optimal Parkinson''s outcomes. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to compare the efficacy of individual Parkinson''s-informed, video-to-home cognitive-behavioral therapy (experimental group), to clinic-based treatment as usual (control group), for depression in PD. METHOD: Ninety United States military veterans with clinical diagnoses of both depression and PD were computer-randomized (1:1) to either the experimental or control group; randomization was stratified by baseline antidepressant use and blind to all other baseline data. The acute treatment period spanned 10?weeks and was followed by a 6-month extension phase. The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale was the a priori primary outcome. Depression treatment response was defined as a score = 2 on the Clinical Global Impression Improvement Scale. All statistical analyses were intent to treat. RESULTS: Video-to-home cognitive-behavioral therapy outperformed clinic-based treatment as usual across three separate depression measures (P < 0.001). Effects were observed at the end of acute treatment and maintained through 6-month follow-up. Number needed to treat (based on treatment response classification) was 2.5 with an absolute risk reduction of 40%. CONCLUSION: Video-to-home cognitive-behavioral therapy may be an effective intervention to bypass access barriers to specialized, evidence-based depression care in PD and to address the unmet neuropsychiatric treatment needs of the Parkinson''s community. © 2021 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.