Efficacy and safety of paroxetine combined with quetiapine in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder

Objective To investigate the efficacy and safety of paroxetine combined with low dose of quetiapine in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder.Methods One hundred and forty patients with generalized anxiety disorder were randomly assigned to treatment group(paroxetine combined with low dose of quetiapine group,n = 71) and control group(paroxetine group,n = 69).The efficacy was assessed by the Hamilton rating scale for anxiety(HAMA),the Treatment Emergent Symptom Scale(TESS) for side effects,and Pittsburgh sleep quality index(PSQI) for sleep qualities of all participants at baseline and at the end of 1st,2nd,4th,6th,8thweek.Results There were no significant differences between two groups at cure rate(70.4% /68.1%),notable improvement rate(15.5% /13.0%),progress rate(8.5% /10.1%),and ineffective rate(5.6% /8.7%) overall the treatment course.Compare with the baseline,the treatment group showed notable decrease of HAMA at the 1stweekend(P 0.05),and the control group showed that at the2ndweekend(P 0.05).The treatment group had a more significant decrease than the control group at the 1st,2nd,and 4thweek end(P 0.05or P 0.01).The psychic anxiety score of the treatment group at the1st,2nd,4thweekend and the somatic anxiety score at the 2nd,4thweekend showed significant decrease,compared with the control group(P 0.05 or P 0.01).Both of the two group had no serious adverse events.Conclusion Paroxetine combined with low dose of quetiapine is an effective and safe way to treat generalized anxiety disorder,and patients have good compliance under the treatment.