A Control Study on Efficacy Escitalopram and Paroxetine for Panic Disorder

Objective To investigate the clinic efficacy and side effects of escitalopram and paroxetine in treating patients with panic disorder.Methods Seventy-eight patients with panic disorder were randomly divided into two groups.Patients in study group were treated with escitalopram and the control group were treated with paroxetine.The treatment course was 8 weeks.All the subjects were rated by Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiet(HAMA),Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression(HAMD) and Rating Scale for Side Effects(SERS) at the baseline and the end of week 1,2,4,6,8,respectively.Results Scale of HAMA in the study group was significantly lower than that in the control group at the end of the first two weeks,but there were no significant differences between the two groups in both clinic effect and side effects at the end of week 4,6,8.The remission and response rates were 65.7% and 88.6% respectively in the study group at the end of week 8 according to the HAMA score,while 66.7% and 88.9% respectively in paroxetine group,without statistical difference between the two groups.Conclusion There were no significant difference between escitalopram and paroxetine in treating patients with panic disorder in terms of clinical efficacy and adverse effects.