Though standardized clinical guidelines noticeably improved practitioners’ ability to provide patients with high-quality healthcare, the presence of genetic variations calls for a more individual approach to treatment. Recent scientific advances in genetics and genomics allow healthcare professionals to adjust current protocols, meeting one’s specific needs. This paper briefly examines clinical guidelines of Sertraline with regards to the genetic variations and provides recommendations on how to tailor depression treatment to each patient.
Commonly prescribed to cure anxiety and depression, Sertraline has a precise protocol. According to Fann et al. (2017), the drug’s dosage varies from 25 to 100 mg, dependent on the severity of the symptoms. The medicine should be taken regularly, in the morning and evening (Fann et al., 2017). As followed in “Sertraline” (2017), the pharmacological agent should not be combined with monoamine oxidase inhibitors and disulfiram.
It is also not recommended to use Sertraline if a patient is pregnant or has a history of seizures, chronic liver conditions, and heart diseases. Individuals should also be informed about possible health complications, resulting from the drug’s intake, such as angle-closure glaucoma (“Sertraline,” 2017). Although scientifically accurate, the aforementioned clinical guidelines for Sertraline do not include implications for the possible genetic variations.
Focused mostly on the environmental factors, Sertraline’s protocol does not assess the significance of the patient’s inborn characteristics. As explained by Shadrina, Bondarenko, and Slominsky (2018), such genetic variations as gender, race, family history of mental impairments, gene mutations, and congenital chemical imbalance should be taken into account when selecting proper treatment. All these factors do not only help to predict the effectiveness of specific medical procedures but also provide additional insight into the recommended dosage of the drug, possible risk factors, and implications of the contaminant diseases.
To create a more individual approach when providing standardized treatments, healthcare professionals should combine a series of biomedical and therapeutic procedures. Gautam, Jain, Gautam, Vihang, and Grover (2017) noted that first, before prescribing Sertraline, healthcare professionals should collect and record the patient’s family history of mental illnesses, in particular, depression and anxiety.
Second, the root causes of disease development should be examined. In case of a self-reported family history of chronic mental diseases, practitioners should conduct corresponding biomedical analyses to detect possible gene mutations or chemical imbalances, dependent on the hereditary predisposition (Gautam et al., 2017). Finally, when choosing a suitable course of treatment, variations in racial, ethnic, and gender responses need to be considered.
References
Fann, J. R., Bombardier, C. H., Temkin, N., Esselman, P., Warms, C., Barber, J., & Dikmen, S. (2017). Sertraline for major depression during the year following traumatic brain injury: A randomized controlled trial. The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 32(5), 332-342. Web.
Gautam, S., Jain, A., Gautam, M., Vihang, N. V., & Grover, S. (2017). Clinical practice guidelines for the management of depression. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 59(1), 34-50. Web.
Sertraline. (2018). Web.
Shadrina, M., Bondarenko, E. A., & Slominsky, P. A. (2018). Genetics factors in major depression disease. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9(334), 1-18. Web.