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Escitalopram Shows Efficacy in Depressed Patients With Comorbid Anxiety

By Bruce Sylvester

ATLANTA, GA -- May 27, 2005 -- Over a 12-week treatment period, escitalopram was both well tolerated and effective in reducing symptoms of depression in patients with or without comorbid anxiety, researchers reported here May 24^th at the 158^th Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA).

"In practice, a depressed patient almost always manifests a certain degree of anxiety. And this drug can be confidently prescribed in that case, we found," said presenter and lead investigator Andre Galinowski, MD, psychiatrist and clinical researcher at Hospital Sainte Anne in Paris, France. "It is not so with some other antidepressants. As you know, some antidepressants can actually activate anxiety at the start of treatment. Here you have improvement of both depression and anxiety for those patients who present with the comorbidity."

The investigators gave escitalopram 10 to 20 mg/d over a 12-week treatment period to 790 subjects who were divided into three groups by level of anxiety, as determined by the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAM-A) total score at baseline. Of the subjects enrolled, 649 subjects completed the study.

The investigators reported that the mean Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) total score at baseline was 31.5 (increasing as HAM-A total score increased) and improved to a mean of 10.5 at endpoint. Baseline mean HAM-A total score was 25.6, improving to a mean of 9.0 at endpoint.

"The therapeutic effect on anxiety (assessed by HAM-A) was slightly increased, while the therapeutic effect on depressive symptoms (assessed by MADRS) was slightly reduced, when either the severity of baseline anxiety or the number of comorbid anxiety disorders were high," according to the investigators.

Also, 251 patients (32%) reported adverse events during the study. The most frequently reported were nausea in 67 patients (8%) and headache in 38 patients (5%). The investigators noted that 61 patients (8%) discontinued due to adverse events.

Escitalopram is marketed in the United States as Lexapro. The study was supported by H. Lundbeck A/S.


[Presentation title: The Efficacy of Escitalopram in Depressed Patients With Comorbid Anxiety. Abstract NR347.]

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