Thursday, October 30, 2008

Drug-therapy combo best for anxiety in kids -study

A combination of a common antidepressant and a specialized form of talk therapy offer the best treatment for children and youth with anxiety disorders, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

The findings come from the largest study of anxiety in children yet and offer much-needed guidance about how best to treat young people with separation anxiety, social phobia and generalized anxiety disorder -- conditions that affect as many as 20 percent of children and teenagers in the United States.

The study "clearly showed that combination treatment is the most effective for these children," Dr. John Walkup of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, who worked on the study, said in a statement.

But he said either therapy alone or sertraline alone helped well. Sertraline is the generic name of Pfizer Inc's (PFE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Zoloft, which is one of a class of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

READ MORE @ REUTERS