Pediatric anxiety remission up with acute treatment response

(HealthDay)—Almost half of youth with anxiety disorders are in remission at six years after randomization to interventions, with those who respond during acute treatment more likely to be in remission, according to a study published online Jan. 29 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Golda S. Ginsburg, Ph.D., from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues conducted a naturalistic follow-up study at six academic sites in the United States and involving 288 youth (mean age, 17 years). In the Child/Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal Study (CAMS), participants were randomized to one of four interventions: cognitive behavioral therapy, medication, combination, or pill placebo.

At a mean of six years after randomization, the researchers found that 46.5 percent of the participants were in remission (absence of all study entry anxiety disorders). Acute treatment responders were more likely to be in remission (odds ratio, 1.83); they also had less severe anxiety symptoms and higher functioning, irrespective of treatment arm assignment. The researchers identified several predictors of remission and functioning.

"Youths rated as responders during the acute treatment phase of CAMS were more likely to be in remission a mean of six years after randomization, although the effect size was small," the authors write. "Relapse occurred in almost half (48 percent) of acute responders, suggesting the need for more intensive or continued treatment for a sizable proportion of youths with anxiety disorders."

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical and publishing industries.