Long-term sertraline treatment of children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

ABSTRACT Objective To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of sertraline in the long-term treatment of pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Method Children (6–12 years; n = 72) and adolescents (13–18 years; n = 65) with DSM-III-R –defined OCD who had completed a 12-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled sertraline study were given open-label sertraline 50 to 200 mg/day in this 52-week extension study. Concomitant psychotherapy was allowed during the extension study. Outcome was evaluated by the Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS), National Institute of Mental Health Global Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, and Clinical Global Impression Severity (CGI-S) and Improvement (CGI-I) scores. Results Significant improvement ( p n = 132), as well as the child and the adolescent samples. At endpoint, 72% of children and 61% of adolescents met response criteria (>25% decrease in CY-BOCS and a CGI-I score of 1 or 2). Significant ( p Conclusion Sertraline (50–200 mg/day) was effective and generally well tolerated in the treatment of childhood and adolescent OCD for up to 52 weeks. Improvement was seen with continued treatment.