Long-term sertraline treatment of children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of sertraline in the long-term treatment of pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).


METHODS
Children (6-12 years; n= 72) and adolescents (13-18 years; n = 65) with DSM-III-R-defined OCD who had completed a 12-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled sertraline study were given open-label sertraline 50 to 200 mg/day in this 52-week extension study. Concomitant psychotherapy was allowed during the extension study Outcome was evaluated by the Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS), National Institute of Mental Health Global Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, and Clinical Global Impression Severity (CGI-S) and Improvement (CGI-I) scores.


RESULTS
Significant improvement (p < .0001) was demonstrated on all four outcome parameters on an intent-to-treat analysis for the overall study population (n = 132), as well as the child and the adolescent samples. At endpoint, 72% of children and 61% of adolescents met response criteria (>25% decrease in CY-BOCS and a CGI-I score of 1 or 2). Significant (p < .05) improvements were also demonstrated from the extension study baseline to endpoint on all outcome parameters in those patients who received sertraline during the 12-week, double-blind acute study. Long-term sertraline treatment was well tolerated, and there were no discontinuations due to changes in vital signs, laboratory values, or electrocardiograms.


CONCLUSIONS
Sertraline (50-200 mg/day) was effective and generally well tolerated in the treatment of childhood and adolescent OCD for up to 52 weeks. Improvement was seen with continued treatment.
Cook
E H
EH
Department of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, University of Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
Wagner
K D
KD
March
J S
JS
Biederman
J
J
Landau
P
P
Wolkow
R
R
Messig
M
M
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003257:Consumer Product Safety; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy*; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D020280:Sertraline / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013997:Time Factors
D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors; D020280:Sertraline