Panic disorder. A long-term treatment study: fluoxetine vs imipramine

✍ Scribed by Mario Amore; Katia Magnani; Marziano Cerisoli; Carlo Casagrande; Giuseppe Ferrari

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 87 KB
• Volume: 14
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6222
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1077(199908)14:6<429::aid-hup108>3.0.co;2-3

✦ Synopsis

This double-blind study evaluates the ecacy and tolerability of ¯uoxetine and imipramine in the acute and longterm treatment of panic disorder in 38 patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for panic disorder with or without agoraphobia. On the basis of HRSA mean scores evaluation, ¯uoxetine was found to be quicker than imipramine in reducing generalized anxiety at the end of the ®rst week of treatment. However, through PASS and CGI mean scores evaluation, no statistically signi®cant dierences were found at any time in the ecacy of ¯uoxetine and imipramine on the total number of panic attacks, anticipatory anxiety or phobia severity. Fluoxetine has also turned out to be better tolerated than imipramine and to be eective at dosages low enough to avoid the event of an activation syndrome. Long-term evaluation has shown high rates of persistent remission with both drugs.