my personal edition > anxiety > news


  E-Mail this DGDispatch to a colleague

DGDispatch

Quetiapine Monotherapy Has Benefits for Treatment of Generalized Anxiety: Presented at APA

By Danny Kucharsky

TORONTO, CANADA -- May 29, 2006 -- Quetiapine may be a useful option for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), concludes a pilot study presented here at the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting (APA).

The double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was presented on May 24^th by investigator Olga Brawman-Mintzer, MD, associate professor, public psychiatry division, Medical University of South Carolina, and core investigator, Ralph Johnson VA Medical Center, Charleston, South Carolina.

Following a 1-week placebo run-in, 38 patients with a primary diagnosis of GAD were randomized to 6 weeks of treatment with quetiapine 25 to 300 mg/day or placebo. Twelve of 19 patients in the quetiapine group and 16 of 19 patients in the placebo group completed the trial.

Seven patients (5 in the quetiapine group) withdrew due to adverse events. These were mostly mild to moderate and the most common were fatigue and somnolence.

At endpoint, decreases in Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale total scores in the quetiapine and placebo groups but not statistically different. However, observed case analysis at weeks 2 and 4 showed significant improvement in the quetiapine group compared with the placebo group at week 2 (-11.1 vs -5.9, P <.05) and at week 4 (-13.7 vs -8.6, P <.05).

Quetiapine patients also had numerically different reductions in all other outcome measures, but the differences compared with placebo were not statistically significant.

Both the response rate and remission rate at endpoint were greater in the quetiapine group (57.9 vs 36.8% and 42.1 vs 21.1% of patients, respectively), but again, differences were not statistically significant.

Despite the small sample size, the preliminary results suggest evidence of improvement in the treatment of GAD or treatment-resistant GAD, Dr. Brawman-Mintzer said. Further studies are warranted, she added.

"I think it is going to be an interesting area to pursue," Dr. Brawman-Mintzer said. "The data are encouraging enough that there will be large-scale information available soon enough."

The study was sponsored by AstraZeneca.


[Presentation title: Quetiapine Monotherapy in Patients With GAD. Abstract NR634.]

E-Mail this DGDispatch to a colleague

To print, use this version