A Comparative Study of the Effects of Vortioxetine and Fluoxetine on Cognitive Profile in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37018/OKUI8957Keywords:
Major depressive disorder, Cognition, Fluoxetine, Vortioxetine, AntidepressantsAbstract
Background: One of the most prevalent psychiatric diseases in the world is major depressive disorder (MDD), which is often accompanied by impairments in the cognitive domains like attention, memory, executive functioning, and processing speed. Despite the high prescription of vortioxetine and fluoxetine as antidepressants, not many studies compare the effects of these drugs on cognitive processes directly. This study aims to compare the effects of vortioxetine and fluoxetine on cognitive performance in patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD).
Methods: The study was a randomized, open-label, prospective comparative study that was carried out at the outpatient psychiatry department of Punjab Institute of Mental Health, Lahore, between October 2025 and December 2025. One hundred and eighty drug naive adults with MDD and cognitive impairment (MoCA of 26 or less and BCRS of 1 or more) were recruited. The participants were selected randomly to take fluoxetine 20 mg/day or vortioxetine 10 mg/day. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Brief Cognitive Rating Scale (BCRS) were used to measure cognitive performance at baseline, week 2, and week 4. As a result of the attrition, 65 respondents in each group were incorporated in the final study.
Results: There was progressive improvement in the cognitive performance of both groups of treatment over four weeks. There were no statistically significant intergroup differences in BCRS scores at any point of assessment. At week four, there was a statistically significant difference at the borderline significance level in the favour of the fluoxetine group in MoCA scores (p = 0.05). The difference was however, very slight.
Conclusion: Vortioxetine and fluoxetine were both shown to have short-term cognitive functioning improvement in depressed patients. Fluoxetine demonstrated a marginal benefit in global cognitive screening at week four, but the clinical value was insignificant. It should be done with longer studies that have more sensitive neurocognitive measures.
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