Posted by SLS on December 31, 2009, at 13:07:51
In reply to Re: Zoloft and Lexapro best choices for first-line?, posted by mtdewcmu on December 31, 2009, at 11:30:12
> > > I have some questions about how things were measured. For instance, if a person dropped out of a study due to side effects, were they counted as a non-responder?
> >
> > Yes. That is what they wanted to determine in their "intent to treat" statistics.
> >
> > > In that case, the dropouts would be double-counted, once in the efficacy and once in the acceptability.
> >
> > Exactly. You hit the target on that one.
> >
> > "Efficacy" does not mean "effectiveness". Efficacy is a measure of how well an agent produces a therapeutic effect. Tolerability is a measure of untoward effect. Effectiveness is an index of efficacy and tolerability taken together.
> >
> > > There is no other pharmacological reason I can conceive of that Paxil rated so low in efficacy.
> >
> > That is a great observation. I think you are right, although I believe that "effectiveness" would be the operating word here.
> >
> > Like I said, they might not have it exactly right, but I think they are close enough to at least use their concept as a guide to encourage similar investigations.
> >
> >
> > - Scott
>
> OK. So that suggests that IF you can tolerate Paxil, then you can probably expect it to work as well as any other SSRI.
Yes. Paxil seems to be at least as efficacious as the other SSRIs for depression, and perhaps even better than the others for treating anxiety disorders.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:931556
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20091227/msgs/931800.html