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Sertraline Equally Effective in Men and Women with Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Presented at ADAA

By Alison Palkhivala

TORONTO, ON -- April 1, 2003 -- Sertraline is equally effective for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder in both men and women, according to an industry-sponsored study.

Meir Steiner, MD, PhD, from McMaster University, St. Joseph's Hospital, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and colleagues, presented the results of the randomized, double-blind study, here in a poster on March 29^th at the 23^rd Annual Conference of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America. The work was done in collaboration with researchers from Pfizer, Inc., manufacturers of sertraline.

The researchers randomized 188 patients with generalized anxiety disorder to 12 weeks of treatment with sertraline 50 to 150 mg/day or a placebo. Fifty-one percent of patients in the placebo group and 59% of patients in the treatment group were female. Outcomes were measured using the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (Ham-A) and the Clinical Global Impression-Improvement (CGI-I)

Clinical presentations of generalized anxiety disorder were similar for both men and women in terms of severity of psychic and somatic anxiety, as well as concomitant depression symptoms. Treatment with sertraline resulted in a superior response rate, defined as a CGI-I less than 2, than placebo starting at week 4.

Overall, sertraline treated generalized anxiety disorder equally well in both men and women. Speed of onset, improvement in psychic and somatic symptoms of anxiety as well as improvement in concomitant depressive symptoms were all similar.

By the end of the 12-week study, 64% of males taking sertraline versus 40% of males on placebo had met responder criteria (p<0.003). Among women, 62% of those taking sertraline, compared with 34% of those on placebo, were responders (p<0.001).

Based on these findings, the authors concluded that sertraline was "an effective and well-tolerated treatment for [generalized anxiety disorder] in both men and women."


[Study title: Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): Gender Differences in Clinical Presentation and Response to Sertraline. Abstract: p16]

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