The goal of this study is to examine the effectiveness of thiamine in reducing depressive symptoms in children and adolescents. The investigators hypothesize that thiamine administration will alleviate depressive symptoms in children and adolescents and will have a favorable safety profile. Participants will complete a baseline virtual visit with a study clinician and parent/guardian questionnaires to assess depression symptoms, medical history, current medications, and study eligibility. Participants will complete fasting blood draws before and after the 4-week study period and, if eligible, receive study thiamine capsules by mail to take daily during the study. Participants will attend weekly virtual visits for 4 weeks to monitor depression symptoms, safety, medication adherence, side effects, and any changes in medications or treatments.
This will be a 28-day, open-label, Phase 2a pilot trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of 100 mg of daily oral thiamine in the treatment of depression in children and adolescents. Subjects will include pediatric patients 8-17 years of age with elevated depressive symptoms. The investigators plan to enroll 40 subjects to account for an expected dropout rate, with the goal of retaining 30 participants for analysis. The main outcome measures will be improvement in depressive symptoms as measured by the Children Depression Rating Scale-Revised (CDRS-R). Overall clinical functioning will be assessed using the Clinical Global Impression of Severity (CGI-S) and Improvement (CGI-I) scales. The Children's Depression Inventory-2 Parent Form (CDI-2) will also be included as a secondary outcome measure. Thiamine status will be assessed by measuring thiamine diphosphate (TDP) concentrations in whole blood samples (3 mL), collected in EDTA tubes (lavender top) at two time points: at baseline and at the end of study (Day 28). In addition to measuring thiamine diphosphate (TDP) concentrations, the investigators will also assess a panel of inflammatory and metabolic biomarkers at baseline and at the end of study (Day 28). These biomarkers include C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor-necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and leptin. Biomarker testing allows exploration of potential thiamine mechanisms of action. The investigators plan to treat subjects with the following doses: Thiamine hydrochloride (HCL): 100 mg daily At each visit, measures of safety and efficacy will be obtained using rating scales.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
40
Participants will receive 100 mg HCl oral thiamine capsules, which will be swallowed whole.
Change From Baseline in Children's Depression Rating Scale-Revised (CDRS-R) Total Score
Change in depressive symptom severity from baseline to Week 4 as measured by the Children's Depression Rating Scale-Revised (CDRS-R). Lower scores indicate reduced depression severity and improvement in depressive symptoms over the course of thiamine treatment.
Time frame: 28 days
Number of Participants Demonstrating Clinical Improvement on the Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement (CGI-I) Scale
Number of participants demonstrating clinical improvement on the Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement (CGI-I) Scale at Week 4. The proportion of participants meeting the predefined improvement threshold will be reported along with the corresponding 95% confidence interval.
Time frame: 28 days
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