EFFICACY OF FLUVOXAMINE, PAROXETINE, AND CITALOPRAM IN THE TREATMENT OF OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER - A SINGLE-BLIND STUDY

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been successfully treated with proserotonergic agents for some years. Clomipramine was the first dru g used, but several clinical trials have been conducted more recently to assess the antiobsessional efficacy of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), The aim of this study was to compare the antiobse ssional efficacy of three SSRIs, fluvoxamine, paroxetine, and citalopr am. Thirty obsessive-compulsive patients without comorbid axis I diagn oses except for tic disorder as assessed by DSM-III-R criteria gave in formed consent and were recruited consecutively; they underwent a 10-w eek randomized treatment with fluvoxamine, paroxetine, or citalopram. Ratings were performed under blind conditions every 2 weeks from basel ine to the end of the study and by the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, the National Institute of Mental Health-Obsessive-Compulsive S cale, the Clinical Global Impressions Scale, and the Hamilton Rating S cale for Depression. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the anti obsessional efficacy of the three drugs were completed with analysis o f variance with repeated measures and survival analysis. The results s howed no significant differences between the three treatments. The pre liminary conclusions drawn from this study concern the interchangeable antiobsessional effects of different SSRIs, although further studies of ''cross-response'' to these drugs are needed.