A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 22 studies with a total of 2 519 subjects. All studies were short-term (<= 16 weeks). The majority of the trials assessed the efficacy of the SSRIs (N = 15). Medication and placebo response occurred in 58.1% and 31.5% of patients, respectively (N =14 studies, NNT = 4). Medication was more effective than placebo in reducing overall symptom severity in OCD in a post-hoc comparison (WMD = -4.45, 95% CI -5.94 to -2.97, n = 765, 7 studies). Medication was less well tolerated than placebo overall, though the absolute proportion of participants who withdrew due to drug-related adverse events was low (4.9%).
Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by study quality (inadequate or unclear allocation concealment, inadequate follow up).
Primary/Secondary Keywords