Citalopram is commonly prescribed to patients suffering from major depressive disorder. Some of them do not respond adequately to therapy with citalopram, while many of them experience type A adverse drug reactions. Current research revealed that CYP2C19 isoenzyme is involved in the biotransformation of citalopram. The objective of our study was to investigate the impact of 681G>A polymorphism of the CYP2C19 gene on the efficacy, safety and the concentration/dose indicator of citalopram. Our study enrolled 130 patients with major depressive disorder and comorbid alcohol use disorder (average age-38.7 ± 14.1 years). Therapy regimen included citalopram in an average daily dose of 31.1 ± 14.4 mg per week. Therapy efficacy and safety were evaluated using the international psychometric scales. For genotyping, we performed the real-time polymerase chain reaction. Our findings revealed the statistically significant results in terms of the treatment efficacy evaluation (HAMD scores at the end of the treatment course): (GG) 8.0 [8.0; 9.0] and (GA) 10.0 [9.0; 11.0], p < 0.001. In the safety profile (the UKU scores), the statistical significance was also obtained: (GG) 3.0 [3.0; 4.0] and (GA) 5.0 [4.0; 5.0], p < 0.001. We revealed a statistical significance for concentration/dose indicator of citalopram in patients with different genotypes: (GG) 2.543 [1.659; 4.239] and (GA) 4.196 [2.643; 5.753], p < 0.001). The effect of CYP2C19 genetic polymorphism on the efficacy and safety profiles of citalopram was demonstrated in a group of 130 patients with major depressive disorder.
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