Two primary outcomes of efficacy and acceptability showed a possible advantage of benzodiazepines over placebo .
Low- quality evidence shows a possible superiority of benzodiazepine over placebo in the short-term treatment of panic disorders .
Due to these limitations , our results regarding the efficacy of benzodiazepines versus placebo provide only limited guidance for clinical practice .
BACKGROUND Panic disorder is characterised by recurrent unexpected panic attacks consisting of a wave of intense fear that reaches a peak within a few minutes .
Panic disorder is a common disorder , with an estimated lifetime prevalence of 1 % to 5 % in the general population and a 7 % to 10 % prevalence in primary care setting s. Its aetiology is not fully understood and is probably heterogeneous .
Panic disorder is treated with psychological and pharmacological interventions , often used in combination .
Although benzodiazepines are frequently used in the treatment of panic disorder , guidelines recommend antidepressants , mainly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors ( SSRIs ) , as first-line treatment for panic disorder , particularly due to their lower incidence of dependence and withdrawal reaction when compared to benzodiazepines .
Despite these recommendations , benzodiazepines are widely used in the treatment of panic disorder , probably because of their rapid onset of action .
OBJECTIVES To assess the efficacy and acceptability of benzodiazepines versus placebo in the treatment of panic disorder with or without agoraphobia in adults .
Adinazolam Sustained‐Release Treatment of Panic Disorder: A Double‐Blind Study
Two hundred six out patients with panic disorder and agoraphobia were r and omly assigned to receive 4 weeks of treatment with placebo or sustained-release adinazolam under double-blind conditions . Eighty-eight percent of patients receiving drug and 85 % of patients receiving placebo remained in the study at week 4 . This report describes the “ intent-to-treat ” analysis of 202 patients who made at least one follow-up visit after r and omization at baseline . On the basis of the Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement Scale , 69.7 % of the adinazolam-treated patients were much or very much improved compared with 39.6 % of the placebo-treated patients at week 4 or end-point ( p = 0.0001 ) . At week 4 , panic attacks were completely blocked in 57.1 % of adinazolam-treated patients and in 39.2 % of the placebo-treated patients ( p = 0.009 ) . Adinazolam sustained-release treatment was statistically more effective than placebo treatment on measures of global improvement , number of panic attacks , SCL-90 phobia severity , main phobia severity , and anticipatory and general anxiety . No drug-placebo differences were found for overall self-rated phobia severity , unexpected or situational panic attacks , or for work , family , or social disability
Two primary outcomes of efficacy and acceptability showed a possible advantage of benzodiazepines over placebo .
Low- quality evidence shows a possible superiority of benzodiazepine over placebo in the short-term treatment of panic disorders .
Due to these limitations , our results regarding the efficacy of benzodiazepines versus placebo provide only limited guidance for clinical practice .
BACKGROUND Panic disorder is characterised by recurrent unexpected panic attacks consisting of a wave of intense fear that reaches a peak within a few minutes .
Panic disorder is a common disorder , with an estimated lifetime prevalence of 1 % to 5 % in the general population and a 7 % to 10 % prevalence in primary care setting s. Its aetiology is not fully understood and is probably heterogeneous .
Panic disorder is treated with psychological and pharmacological interventions , often used in combination .
Although benzodiazepines are frequently used in the treatment of panic disorder , guidelines recommend antidepressants , mainly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors ( SSRIs ) , as first-line treatment for panic disorder , particularly due to their lower incidence of dependence and withdrawal reaction when compared to benzodiazepines .
Despite these recommendations , benzodiazepines are widely used in the treatment of panic disorder , probably because of their rapid onset of action .
OBJECTIVES To assess the efficacy and acceptability of benzodiazepines versus placebo in the treatment of panic disorder with or without agoraphobia in adults .