Trajectories of Relapse in Randomised, Placebo-Controlled Trials of Treatment Discontinuation in Major Depressive Disorder: An Individual Patient-Level Data Meta-Analysis

Introduction: Understanding patterns of relapse in patients who respond to antidepressant treatment can inform strategies for prevention of relapse. We aimed to identify distinct trajectories of depression severity, assess whether similar or different trajectory classes exist for patients who continued or discontinued active treatment, and test whether clinical predictors of trajectory class membership exist using pooled data from clinical trials.