Fluvoxamine for the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders in Children and Adolescents

Abstract

Background Drugs that selectively inhibit sero- tonin reuptake are effective treatments for adults with mood and anxiety disorders, but limited data are available on the safety and efficacy of serotonin-reuptake inhibitors in children with anxiety disorders. MethodsWe studied 128 children who were 6 to 17 years of age; who met the criteria for social phobia, separation anxiety disorder, or generalized anxiety disorder; and who had received psychological treatment for three weeks without improvement.The children were randomly assigned to receive fluvoxamine (at a maximum of 300 mg per day) or placebo for eight weeks and were evaluated with rating scales designed to assess the degree of anxiety and impairment. ResultsChildren in the fluvoxamine group had a mean (±SD) decrease of 9.7±6.9 points in symptoms of anxiety on the Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale (range of possible scores, 0 to 25, with higher scores indicating greater anxiety), as compared with a decrease of 3.1±4.8points among children in the placebo group (P<0.001).On the Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement scale, 48 of 63 children in the fluvoxamine group (76 percent) had a response to the treatment, as indicated by a score of less than 4, as compared with 19 of 65 children in the placebo group (29 percent, P<0.001).Five children in the fluvoxamine group (8 percent) discontinued treatment because of adverse events, as compared with one child in the placebo group (2 percent). ConclusionsFluvoxamine is an effective treatment for children and adolescents with social phobia, separation anxiety disorder, or generalized anxiety disorder.