PHILADELPHIA, PA — May 22, 2002 —
Venlafaxine HCl is an effective and well-tolerated treatment for children with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), according to research presented here Tuesday at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). “Because children and teens, who are developing social, emotional and learning skills, can suffer devastating effects from GAD, appropriate and effective counseling and medical treatment of the illness is essential,” says co-author Arifulla Khan, MD, medical director of the Northwest Clinical Research Center (NWCRC) in Bellevue, Washington, and adjunct associate professor of psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina, United States.
“It is welcome news that our study revealed that one medication, venlafaxine, which is effective in helping adults with depression and GAD achieve remission — virtual elimination — of symptoms, also is significantly effective in reducing the symptoms of GAD in children and teens.”
The investigators used the Columbia KIDDIE Schedule of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia Sub-section GAD (C KIDDIE-SADS GAD) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) criteria to test for study eligibility. Anxiety symptoms had to be present for six months or longer. Eligible subjects could not be depressed, as measured by the Childhood Depression Rating Scale-Revised (CDRS-R). Only simple phobia as confirmed by KIDDIE-SADS-PL was allowed as a concurrent diagnosis with GAD. A total of 158 children 6-17 years were randomly assigned to receive venlafaxine or a placebo for up to eight weeks, followed by optional weeks in which the doses of the drug or placebo were gradually reduced. In the double-blind phase of the study, 77 children received 37.5 to 225 mg once a day of the extended release formulation of venlafaxine.
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