Fluoxetine for Anxious Children

January 7, 2014 updated by: Boris Birmaher, MD, University of Pittsburgh

The purpose of this study is to see if it is safe and effective to use fluoxetine to treat children and adolescents with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).

Anxiety disorders are one of the most common psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents, and can cause disturbances in the child's school, social, and family lives. Having an anxiety disorder puts a child at risk for depression and drug abuse, and appears to continue into adulthood. There is very little information on anxiety medications for children.

Children will be assigned randomly (like tossing a coin) to receive either fluoxetine or an inactive placebo for 12 weeks. Each child will be monitored for symptoms and side effects throughout the study. He/she will have blood tests at Weeks 4, 8, and 12 to measure drug levels in the blood. The study will last for 12 weeks.

A child is eligible for this study if he/she:

Is 8 to 17 years old and has anxiety disorder.

A child will not be eligible for this study if he/she:

Has current major depression, panic disorder, or obsessive-compulsive disorder, or abuses alcohol or drugs.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

To evaluate the safety and efficacy of fluoxetine as a treatment for children and adolescents with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).

Anxiety disorders are among the most common childhood and adolescent psychiatric disorders and are often associated with academic, social, and family morbidity. These disorders frequently increase the risk for developing other psychiatric disorders (e.g., depression, substance abuse), aggregate in families, and appear to continue into adulthood. Except for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, there are very few pharmacological treatment studies for childhood anxiety disorders. Given the sparsity and methodological problems of previous anxiety pharmacological studies, it is clear that further investigation of the use of pharmacological treatment of children and adolescents with these disorders is needed.

Patients are randomized to receive either fixed-dose fluoxetine or placebo for 12 weeks. Patients are assessed for psychiatric symptomatology, functional status, and side effects. In addition, to assess attainment of steady state and compliance with treatment, plasma levels of fluoxetine and norfluoxetine are measured at 4, 8, and 12 weeks. To standardize the treatment protocol and to assure that both groups (fluoxetine and placebo) receive equivalent nonpharmacological treatment, a manual is used. Potential predictors of clinical response (such as age, sex, duration and severity of anxiety, school absenteeism, sub-syndromal depressive symptoms, family history of anxiety or mood disorders) are explored.

Study Type

Interventional

Phase

  • Phase 3

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

8 years to 17 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

N/A

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

-

Patients must have:

Generalized anxiety disorder.

Exclusion Criteria:

-

Excluded:

Patients with current major depression, as well as patients with panic and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

-

Excluded:

Current substance abuse.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Masking: Double

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Pittsburgh

Collaborators

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Boris Birmaher, MD

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

June 1, 1997

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2003

Study Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2003

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 2, 1999

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 2, 1999

First Posted (Estimate)

November 3, 1999

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

January 8, 2014

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 7, 2014

Last Verified

December 1, 2005

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • R01MH053681 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
  • DSIR

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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