[Therapy of cardio-neurotic diseases in general practice: clinical experience with atarax]

An open study of efficiency and safety of atarax (hydroxisine) enrolled 55 outpatients (23 males and 32 females, mean age 45.91 +/- 1.91) with generalized anxious and somatoform disorders running as cardioneurosis as well as nosogenic reactions (maladaptation), manifestations of cardiovascular pathology (acute myocardial infarction, angina of effort functional class II-III, postinfarction cardiosclerosis, essential hypertension in 5, 13, 2 and 5 patients, respectively). The patients received atarax for 28 days (daily dose 50 mg). The course was completed in 54 patients. In 47 of them, the overall score value by Hamilton Anxiety Scale dropped by 10 scores, the reduction being more obvious in patients with somatic anxiety. Hydroxysine is well tolerated and safe both in patients with somatic pathology and those with cardiovascular disorders.