A 1 year double-blind placebo-controlled fixed dose study of sertraline in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder

The objective of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy, over a 1 year treatment period, of three dose levels of sertraline and placebo in the treatment of non-depressed adult out-patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Following 1 week of single-blind placebo washout, patients (n = 325) from 11 sites following identical protocols were randomly assigned to 12 weeks of double-blind treatment with one of three fixed doses of sertraline (50, 100 or 200 mg) or placebo. At the end of 12 weeks, treatment responders (including placebo patients) were offered an additional 40 weeks of double-blind treatment at their assigned doses. Efficacy measures were the Vale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale, the NIMH Global Obsessive Compulsive Scale, Clinical Global Impressions of Severity of Illness and Global Improvement and the Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive Inventory. Patients in the pooled sertraline group showed greater improvement than placebo-treated patients on all efficacy measures, based on the endpoint analyses. Moreover, pairwise comparisons at endpoint revealed a significant effect on all three investigator-rated scales in patients receiving 50 or 200 mg of sertraline; in the 100 mg group, there was a significant effect on the NIMH Global Obsessive Compulsive Scale only. Patients completing 3 months of sertraline treatment exhibited excellent toleration and sustained improvement during an additional 40 weeks of therapy. Results support the safety, efficacy and tolerability of daily doses of 50–200 mg of sertraline in the long-term treatment of patients with OCD.