Medical Pharmacology Practice Questions: Anti-Depressant Drugs

Which one(s) of the following statements concerning depression is/are correct?
1. Depression is more likely to occur in men than women
2. Risk of major depression occurring before his 25 appears in origin to be mainly genetic
3. Unipolar depressive disease most typically is identified in early adulthood and tends to recur periodically over a lifetime.
4. A & B
5. A & C
6. B & C
7. A, B & C
In unipolar depressive disease, the best predictor of future occurrence tends to be the number of past occurrences. For example about half of patients who've had one episode and having at least one or two additional episodes.
1. True
2. False
Which one(s) of the following statements is/are correct concerning unipolar depressive disorder?
1. In untreated episode may exhibit the duration of a few months to greater than one year.
2. In some patients (a few) a severe depressive occurrence may evolve to a psychotic state.
3. Elderly patients may exhibit a combination of depressive symptoms and cognitive deficits similar to dementia.
4. A & B
5. B & C
6. C only
7. A, B & C
Neuroendocrine abnormalities that appear to correlate with depression include/includes:
1. Adrenal gland enlargement
2. Reduced Inhibition of glucocorticoid response to dexamethasone
3. Reduced TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone) response to TRH (thyroid-releasing hormone) infusion
4. Elevated cortisol and corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) secretion
5. A & B
6. A & C
7. B & C
8. A, B & C
9. A, B, C & D
The class of antidepressant drugs that are most common in clinical use:
1. Tricyclic antidepressants
2. NMDA antagonists
3. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
4. Monoamine oxidase inhibitors
Which one(s) of the following antidepressants are formulated as racemates, given that they exist as isomers.
1. Fluoxetine
2. Sertraline
3. Citalopram
4. All of the above
Example/examples of antidepressant medications not optically active:
1. Paroxetine
2. Fluvoxamine
3. Both
4. Neither
Factor/factors accounting for the frequent prescription of SSRIs for management of depression:
1. Relative safety in the overdose setting
2. Generally well-tolerated
3. Reasonable cost given medication availability as "generics"
4. All of the above
Class/classes of antidepressants which are described as combining both norepinephrine and serotonin reuptake inhibition:
1. Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs)
2. Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs)
3. Both
4. Neither
This selective serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor has been approved in the USA for treating fibromyalgia.
1. Venlafaxine
2. Milnacipran
3. Venlafaxine
4. Duloxetine
5. A & B
6. A & C
7. B & C
8. A, B, C & D