Efficacy of An Eight Week Trial of Imipramine and Citalopramin Patients With Mixed Anxiety-Depressive Disorde

Objective: mixed anxiety-depressive disorder (madd) is a condition in which patients have both anxiety and depressive symptoms but do not meet thediagnostic criteria for either an anxiety disorder or a mood disorder.the aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of imipramine andcitalopram in the treatment of madd.methods: fifty one outpatients aged 18 to 55 who were diagnosed withmadd were randomly assigned to receive citalopram or imipramine for 8weeks. patients were assessed using hamilton depression rating scale(hdrs) and hamilton anxiety rating scale (hars) at baseline, weeks 4 and8 of the study. the mean differences in hamilton scores from the baselinewere used as the main outcome measures of response to treatment.results: thirty six patients completed the study. patients in the citalopramgroup (n=20) received a mean dosage of 22 mg per day during the first 4weeks and a mean dosage of 33 mg per day during weeks 4 to 8. subjects inthe imipramine group (n= 16) received a mean dosage of 77 mg per dayduring the first 4 weeks and a mean dosage of 89 mg per day during weeks 4to 8. it was noted that the both treatments were effective on depression andanxiety at the end of the fourth and eighth weeks. however, the meandifferences of hdrs and hars scores between citalopram and imipraminegroups were not significantly different at the end of weeks 4 and 8.conclusion: the results of this study suggest that the efficacy of regulardoses of citalopram is comparable with lower range of therapeutic doses ofimipramine in the treatment of madd. a more comprehensive study iswarranted to confirm the results of this study