A meta-analysis of the efficacy of pregabalin in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder
Author(s)
Boschen, Mark J
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2011
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
OBJECTIVE: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a chronic anxiety disorder that leads to significant functional impairment and reduced quality of life. Pregabalin is a novel analogue of the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma amino butyric acid, which has been proposed as a treatment for a range of conditions including GAD. This study examined the efficacy of pregabalin for GAD across published trials, using a meta-analytic method. METHOD: This study examined the 7 published placebo-controlled trials of GAD using pregabalin, and, using meta-analytic techniques, we calculated the effect size of treatment with pregabalin ...
View more >OBJECTIVE: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a chronic anxiety disorder that leads to significant functional impairment and reduced quality of life. Pregabalin is a novel analogue of the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma amino butyric acid, which has been proposed as a treatment for a range of conditions including GAD. This study examined the efficacy of pregabalin for GAD across published trials, using a meta-analytic method. METHOD: This study examined the 7 published placebo-controlled trials of GAD using pregabalin, and, using meta-analytic techniques, we calculated the effect size of treatment with pregabalin (compared with placebo) on a total of 1352 people. RESULTS: The overall effect size of pregabalin in the treatment of GAD was Hedges' g = 0.364, with an effect size of 0.349 on psychic anxiety symptoms and of 0.239 on somatic anxiety symptoms CONCLUSION: Pregabalin is an efficacious therapy for GAD, although effect sizes are smaller than those from earlier studies. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.
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View more >OBJECTIVE: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a chronic anxiety disorder that leads to significant functional impairment and reduced quality of life. Pregabalin is a novel analogue of the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma amino butyric acid, which has been proposed as a treatment for a range of conditions including GAD. This study examined the efficacy of pregabalin for GAD across published trials, using a meta-analytic method. METHOD: This study examined the 7 published placebo-controlled trials of GAD using pregabalin, and, using meta-analytic techniques, we calculated the effect size of treatment with pregabalin (compared with placebo) on a total of 1352 people. RESULTS: The overall effect size of pregabalin in the treatment of GAD was Hedges' g = 0.364, with an effect size of 0.349 on psychic anxiety symptoms and of 0.239 on somatic anxiety symptoms CONCLUSION: Pregabalin is an efficacious therapy for GAD, although effect sizes are smaller than those from earlier studies. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.
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Journal Title
Canadian Journal of Psychiatry
Volume
56
Issue
9
Publisher URI
Copyright Statement
Self-archiving of the author-manuscript version is not yet supported by this journal. Please refer to the journal link for access to the definitive, published version or contact the author[s] for more information.
Subject
Biomedical and clinical sciences
Psychology