Comparative study of escitalopram and fluoxetine in treatment of generalized anxiety

Objective:To investigate the clinical efficacy and safety of escitalopram in treating the patients with generalized anxiety.Methods:Sixty patients with generalized anxiety were randomly divided into two groups.The patients in the study group were treated with escitalopram in a dose of 10~20 mg/d and the control group with fluoxetine in a dose of 10~20 mg/d.All the subjects were rated by Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety(HAMA),and Treatment Emergent Symptoms Scale(TESS) at the baseline and the end of 1,2,4,6,8 weeks respectively.Results:The effective rate and the cure rate were 73.3% and 43.3% in fluoxetine group,and those were 76.7% and 50% in escitalopram group respectively at the end of 8 weeks according to the HAMA score with no statistical difference between the two groups.Conclusion:Escitalopram is effective and safe in treating generalized anxiety,which efficacy and adverse reactions are same to fluoxetine.