The subjects were 10 anxious ambulatory patients whose demographic char­acteristics are shown in Table 1. The patients were diagnosed according to DSM-III criteria and found to have had a generalized anxiety disorder of variable duration (2-6 months) for which they had been receiving various somatic treat­ments that were withdrawn for an adequate period before starting the new treat­ment. Patients were accurately screened for concurrent major medical and neu­rological illnesses. Severe and persistent insomnia was ruled out through specific inquiry. Anxiety and depression ratings were obtained by means of the Hamilton Anxiety and Depression Rating Scales (HARS and HDRS) that were administered by a trained rater. As controls for a baseline MSLT comparison, we selected five subjects with an Association of Sleep Disorders Centers diagnosis (2) of persistent psycho­physiological insomnia (PPI) who had been kept off drugs for at least 3 weeks before sleep EEG and MSLT recordings. After the baseline clinical examinations, the patients were randomly assigned to receive either CDDZ 2 mg at 8:30 a.m., or APZ 0.5 mg at 8:30 a.m. and at 3:30 P.M. Subjects and raters were not unaware of the medication. Baseline MSLT recordings, however, were performed under placebo conditions and took place at 10 a.m., 12 a.m., 2 p.m., 4 p.m., and 6 p.m., according to standard rules (6). At the same times, patients subjectively rated their vigilance levels on the Stanford Sleepiness Scale (SSS) (11), and a venous blood sample was drawn for later parent drugs plasma levels determination. Blood pressure and heart rate were also monitored manually. MSLT sessions took place for every patient at day 0 (baseline), at the first day of drug administration (acute condition), and after 30 days of therapy (chronic condition). HARS, HDRS, and a side-effects list were filled out by the same rater at baseline and at days 14 and 30 of treatment. A venous blood drawing was repeated on day 30 of treatment, at the first (10 a.m.) and last (6 p.m.) naps. Plasma levels of parent compounds were assayed by electron-capture gas-liquid chromatography, as already described (3,4). Several dose adjustments became necessary after the first week of treatment in order to alleviate excessive residual anxiety or excessive daytime sedation. Among CDDZ patients, 3 of 5 required a reduction to 1 mg of the daily dose because of excessive subjective daytime drowsiness, whereas 2 subjects in the APZ group required a daily dosage increase to 2 mg and to 3 mg, respectively, because of excessive residual anxiety. All patients, however, continued to assume their drags according to the original time schedule. Nonparametric statistics (Friedman 2-way ANOVA and Kraskall-Wallis Г -test) were used to compare treatments and correlate vari­ables (Spearman Ranked Correlation).

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