This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Pediatric anxiety disorder remission more likely for responders to acute treatment
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Remission 6 years after the acute phase of a pediatric clinical study was more common in patients who responded to treatment compared with those who did not, according to recent study findings published in JAMA Psychiatry.
Golda S. Ginsburg, PhD, of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, conducted a follow-up study that included 288 patients aged 11 to 26 years (median age, 17 years) to determine long-term outcomes among those diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Participants were randomly assigned to cognitive behavioral therapy, medication, a combination of both or a placebo.
Nearly half (46.5%) of all patients in the study were in remission 6 years after randomization. Those who responded to treatment were more likely to be in remission (P=.03); have lower anxiety severity scores (P=.02); and higher global functioning scores (P=.02).
Male gender and strong family functions also were associated with remission.
“In summary, findings from this naturalistic follow-up study indicated that those youths who experienced a positive response to acute treatment for their anxiety disorder, regardless of treatment type, had better outcomes after a mean of 6 years since randomization,” the researchers wrote. “However, almost half of these responders relapsed, suggesting the need for more intensive or continued treatment for a sizable proportion of anxious youth. Predictors of remission (eg, male sex and better family functioning) suggest potential targets for intervention and identify risk factors for poorer outcomes related to anxiety disorders.”
Disclosure: See the study for a full list of researchers’ financial disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts