PERSONALITY-TRAITS AND EARLY DISCONTINUATION FROM CLINICAL-TRIALS IN ANXIOUS PATIENTS

Patients who discontinue early from clinical trials frequently give am biguous or no reasons for leaving the study. Using Cloninger's Tridime nsional Personality Questionnaire, we examined the potential role of p ersonality traits in early discontinuation in patients with panic diso rder and generalized anxiety disorder. Early dropouts and completers w ere comparable at baseline on demographic and clinical variables but d iffered significantly on the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire. For panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder patients combined , early dropouts scored higher on total novelty seeking, as well as on the novelty-seeking traits of both disorderliness/dislike of regiment ation and impulsiveness. There was no significant interaction between dropout status and diagnosis for this finding, indicating it applied e qually to both groups. This study suggests that personality traits inv olving novelty seeking may contribute to early discontinuation from cl inical trials, independent of side effects, lack of efficacy, or at ba seline, significantly worse symptoms of anxiety.