Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in Children

August 19, 2016 updated by: University of Pennsylvania

Treatment of Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

The purpose of this study is to compare 3 treatments for children with OCD: medication (sertraline, SER) alone vs OCD-specific therapy (Cognitive Behavior Therapy, CBT) vs medication plus therapy. Some patients will receive an inactive placebo (PBO) instead of medication and/or Educational Support (ES, non-psychological treatment) instead of therapy.

One in 200 children suffer from OCD, but few receive appropriate treatment. Both CBT and medication seem to be effective, but their effectiveness, alone and in combination, has not been evaluated.

There are 2 phases to this trial. In Phase I the child will receive 1 of the following 6 treatments for 12 weeks: 1) SER alone; 2) pill PBO alone; 3) CBT alone; 4) SER plus CBT; 5) SER plus ES; 6) pill PBO plus ES. If the child responds to treatment, he/she will go on to Phase II in which the treatment will be slowly reduced, then stopped (discontinued), over time to test the treatment's durability. The child will be evaluated at Weeks 1, 4, 8, 12 (Phase I treatment), and Weeks 16, 20, 24, and 28 (Phase II discontinuation) to see how effective and durable the treatment is in treating your child's OCD.

A child may be eligible for this study if he/she:

Has obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and is 8 - 16 years old.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

To contrast the degree and durability of improvement in pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), patients will be treated with 1 of 6 conditions (3 active treatments and 3 control treatments): sertraline alone (SER), OCD-specific Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), both SER and CBT (SER plus CBT), pill placebo (PBO), pill PBO plus Educational Support (ES), and SER plus ES.

One in 200 youth suffers from OCD, yet relatively few receive appropriate treatment. Both CBT and medication appear beneficial in controlled studies; however, the relative efficacy of CBT and medication, alone and in combination (COMB) is unknown. Thus, well-designed treatment outcome studies are necessary to improve care for youth with OCD.

The experimental design covers 2 phases. Phase I is a 2 (site) x 2 (SER or pill PBO) x 3 (CBT, ES or non- psychosocial treatment) x 5 (repeated measures) factorial 12-week comparison of SER, CBT, COMB and the control conditions. In Phase II, responders advance to a 16-week discontinuation study to assess treatment durability. The primary outcome measure is the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale. Assessments blind to treatment status take place at Week 0 (pretreatment); Weeks 1, 4, 8, 12 (Phase I treatment); and Weeks 16, 20, 24 and 28 (Phase II discontinuation). Besides addressing comparative efficacy and durability of the specified treatments, the investigators also examine time-action effects, differential effects on specific aspects of OCD, including functional impairment, and predictors of response to treatment.

Study Type

Interventional

Phase

  • Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • North Carolina
      • Durham, North Carolina, United States, 27710
        • Duke Univ. Med. Ctr.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104
        • Univ of Pennsylvania

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 16 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

-

Patients must have:

DSM-IV diagnosed OCD.

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

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Pennsylvania

Collaborators

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Edna B. Foa, PhD
  • Principal Investigator: John S. March, MD, MPH

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

May 1, 1997

Study Completion

April 1, 2002

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)

August 22, 2016

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 19, 2016

Last Verified

November 1, 2005

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • R01MH055126 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
  • DSIR 84-CTM
  • R10MH055121 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

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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