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Adjunctive risperidone in generalized anxiety disorder: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study.
Olga Brawman-Mintzer1, Rebecca G Knapp, Paul J Nietert
1Department of Psychiatry, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA. mintzero@musc.edu
The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
|November 2, 2005
Summary
Low-dose risperidone may help patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) who still have symptoms despite other treatments. This adjunctive treatment showed significant improvements in anxiety symptoms compared to placebo.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Clinical Pharmacology
Background:
- Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) often requires adjunctive treatments for persistent symptoms.
- Many patients with GAD do not achieve full remission with current anxiolytic therapies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the efficacy of adjunctive risperidone in patients with symptomatic GAD.
- To assess the safety and tolerability of low-dose risperidone as an add-on therapy.
Main Methods:
- A 5-week, double-blind, randomized controlled trial was conducted.
- Forty patients with DSM-IV GAD and HAM-A scores >= 18 received flexible doses of risperidone (0.5-1.5 mg/day) or placebo, alongside their existing anxiolytics.
- Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety (HAM-A) and Clinical Global Impressions-Severity of Illness scale were used for assessment.
Main Results:
- Adjunctive risperidone significantly reduced core anxiety symptoms, evidenced by greater decreases in HAM-A total scores (p = .034) and psychic anxiety factor scores (p = .047) versus placebo.
- While response rates and other outcome variables were higher in the risperidone group, these differences were not statistically significant.
Conclusions:
- Low-dose risperidone appears to be a potentially useful adjunctive treatment for managing symptomatic GAD.
- Further research may be warranted to confirm efficacy and explore optimal dosing strategies.