Abstract: AIM: To study the efficacy on the quality of life between duloxetine and amitriptyline in treating patients with depression.METHODS: 57 patients were randomized to either duloxetine group( research group, n=30) or amitriptyline group (control group, n=27) for a 6-week period treatment. All patients were assessed with Short-Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36), Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD, 24-items), Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA) and the Treatment Emergent Symptom Scale (TESS) before treatment and at the ends of the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 6th week treatment.RESULTS: The response rates in duloxetine and amitriptyline group were 86.67%(26/30)and 85.19%(23/27)respectively at the sixth weekend, the remission rates were 46.67%(14/30)and 44.44%(12/27),which showed no statistical difference between the two groups ( P>0.05). Incidences of adverse reactions in amitriptyline group was significantly higher than that in duloxetine group(77.78％ vs 36.67％, P<0.05). At the sixth weekend, all the factor scores of SF-36 in duloxetine group were significantly higher than those in control group (P<0.05). The improvement of the most factor scores of SF-36 after 6-week treatment was positively correlated with the decrease rates of total score of HAMD and HAMA, and negatively correlated with the total score of TESS (P<0.05).CONCLUSION: Duloxetine is better than amitriptyline in the improvement of quality of life in depression patients. The quality of life in depression patients is closely correlated to their depression, anxiety symptom and treatment emergent side effects.

Key words: Depression, Quality of life, Duloxetine, Amitriptyline  ,  ,  ,  ,