Adjunctive therapeutic effects of propranolol on anxiety disorders

Objective:To observe the clinical curative effect and adverse effect of paroxetine and propranolol in the treatment of anxiety disorders.Method:205 patients with generalized anxiety disorder were randomly divided into study group(n=105)and control group(n=100).The study group was treated by paroxetine plus propranolol and control group by paroxetine for six weeks.Hamilton anxiety rating scale(HAMA)and clinical global impression(CGI)were used to evaluate clinical curative effect and treatment emergent symptoms scale(TESS)was used to assess the safety.Results:The total effective rate(87.8%)of the study group was significantly higher than that(75.5%)in the control group(P0.05).The reduced rate of HAMA in study group was significantly higher than that in control group at weeks 2、4 and 6(P0.01).The study group showed less and lighter adverse effects such as headache,tachycardia,tremor and so on than the control group.Conclusion:Paroxetine combined with propranolol has good efficacy and safety in treating general anxiety disorder and is better than paroxetine only.