Paroxetine in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder: randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in Japanese patients

The efficacy of paroxetine in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder in Western populations is well established. The present study compares the efficacy and safety of paroxetine with placebo in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder in Japanese patients. Patients aged 16 years or older who met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edn; DSM-IV) criteria for obsessive-compulsive disorder and had a Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) score of greater than or equal to16 were randomized to receive 12 weeks' therapy in a double-blind manner. Paroxetine 20-50 mg/day or placebo was administered following a 1 week, placebo run-in phase. One hundred and ninety-one patients were randomized to either paroxetine or placebo, 188 patients were assessed as the full analysis set (FAS) and 144 patients completed the 12 week study. After adjustment for the Y-BOCS total score at baseline, reductions in obsessive-compulsive total score at week 6 and at the end of therapy were significantly greater in the paroxetine group than the placebo group. Most of the adverse events that occurred during the study were of mild to moderate intensity. Paroxetine is effective and well tolerated in Japanese adult patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.