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ButcJbarbital sodium and chlordiazepoxide in anxious neulrotic outpatients: A collaborative conl'rolled study
Author(s) -
Rickels Karl,
Clark Edward L.,
Etezady Mohammad H.,
Sachs licu,
Sapra Ravi K.,
Vee Robert
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
clinical pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.941
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1532-6535
pISSN - 0009-9236
DOI - 10.1002/cpt1970114538
Subject(s) - chlordiazepoxide , placebo , anxiety , medicine , population , private practice , psychiatry , psychology , diazepam , alternative medicine , family medicine , environmental health , pathology
Butabarbitual sodium, a barbiturate rather widely used in the symptomatic treatment of anxiety, particularly in nonpsychiatric practice, was compared with chlordiazepoxide, a standard antianxiety agent, and placebo in 138 psychiatric and nonpsychiatric patients suffering from anxiety. Data on the 95 patients who completed the 4 week doubleblind study were analyzed with the use of a factorial analysis of covariance design, and the main findings were as follows: (1) Butabarbital sodium and chlordiazepoxide produced significantly more clinical improvement than placebo. (2) General practice patients improved the most, private psychiatric patients somewhat less, and medical and psychiatric clinic patients the least. (3) Both private practice populations improved the most on active drugs and the least on placebo, leading to significant drug‐placebo differences only in these 2 populations. Factorial covariance analyses testing for the effect of initial level of anxiety on clinical improvement consistently indicated that, within all 4 populations, “high” anxious patients responded less well to placebo and better to drug than “low” anxious patients. Several global improvement measures indicated chlordiazepoxide to be superior to butabarbital sodium irrespective of population, while more circumscribed measures showed butabarbital sodium to be particularly effective in general practice patients, with chlordiazepoxide slightly favored in private psychiatric patients. An explanation of these somewhat conflicting findings is not presently available, and further research on butabarbital sodium is suggested.