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  5. Abebaw Mengistu-Yohannes, PhD
Abebaw Mengistu-Yohannes, PhD

Abebaw Mengistu-Yohannes, PhD

University of Alabama at Birmingham

Research Project:
Feasibility and Acceptability of Antidepressant Drug Therapy in Patients with COPD

Grant Awarded:

  • ACRC Pilot Grant

Research Topics:

  • clinical research
  • screening
  • social behavioral research
  • tobacco

Research Disease:

  • COPD

Antidepressant therapy is recommended as first-line treatment for patients COPD suffering with major depression. However, depression is undertreated in COPD based on patients’ unwillingness to accept medications and physicians’ reluctance to prescribe them. The effectiveness of antidepressant treatment in COPD patients has not been fully examined in randomized trials and there are some studies that suggest they may be harmful. We plan to examine patients’ perceptions, beliefs and fears associated with antidepressant treatment using a semi-structured interview. We will also conduct an online survey to determine how doctors do or don’t use antidepressants, and assess their confidence and experience in treating depression. Based on those results we will develop two educational booklets, one for patients receiving antidepressant therapy and one for physicians treating depression. These booklets will be used in a pilot, randomized trial of antidepressant treatment alone versus antidepressant treatment plus supportive telemedicine visits. Findings of the pilot trial will help us to inform the approach to take for a subsequent larger randomized controlled trial.

Page last updated: October 15, 2024

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