Pharmacogenetic-Guided Antidepressant Prescribing in Adolescents

Yes. For this study, doctor involvement is key as they will oversee prescribing decisions, alongside youth and their caregivers. The referring doctor will also be asked to complete some additional forms for youth participation and will receive a copy of the youth’s pharmacogenetic results to help guide prescribing decisions, therefore they must be on board to proceed.

No. The pharmacogenetic report all youth participants will receive first will include information on dosing for SSRIs only. The full pharmacogenetic profile will be delivered at the end of study (i.e., week 12).

No. The primary objective of this trial is to compare the efficacy of SSRI prescribing using either pharmacogenetic (PGx) guided recommendations or current practice guidelines commonly used by prescribers. As such, youth must be anticipating a change in medication by starting a new SSRI or switching to different SSRI as discussed with their doctor.

Randomization is like flipping a coin. Youth will be randomized using a computer-generated software into one of two groups. One group (control group) will receive dosing recommendations based on current practice guidelines outlined by GLAD-PC (i.e., Guidelines for Adolescent Depression in Primary Care). Another group (intervention group) will receive dosing recommendations based on their genetic (PGx) profile.

No.  Both youth participants and their doctors will not know which study group they have been randomly assigned to. This helps ensure that everyone is treated the same way during the study and allows us to make fair and accurate comparisons between the groups when we analyze the results.