Early improvement predicts 8-week treatment outcome in patients with generalized anxiety disorder treated with escitalopram or venlafaxine

Asia Pac Psychiatry. 2017 Dec;9(4). doi: 10.1111/appy.12270. Epub 2016 Dec 19.

Abstract

Introduction: To investigate whether early improvement can predict 8-week treatment outcome in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) patients.

Methods: For 8 weeks, 226 GAD patients were randomly treated with escitalopram or venlafaxine. Early improvement was defined as a ≧20% reduction from baseline in Hamilton anxiety rating scale at week 1 or 2. The positive and negative predictive values were calculated.

Results: The positive and negative predictive values of early improvement in escitalopram or venlafaxine group at week 1 were (85.19%, 67.53%) vs (84.62%, 65.33%) DISCUSSION: The early improvement achieved within the first week treatment can predict a good 8-week treatment outcome in GAD patients.

Keywords: early improvement; efficacy; escitalopram; generalized anxiety disorder; venlafaxine.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation / administration & dosage
  • Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation / pharmacology*
  • Anxiety Disorders / drug therapy*
  • Citalopram / administration & dosage
  • Citalopram / pharmacology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Outcome Assessment, Health Care*
  • Prognosis
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Time Factors
  • Venlafaxine Hydrochloride / administration & dosage
  • Venlafaxine Hydrochloride / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation
  • Citalopram
  • Venlafaxine Hydrochloride