| Title | Cognitive toxicity of pharmacotherapeutic agents used in social anxiety disorder. | | Author(s) | Hindmarch I | | Institution | University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, UK. ian@psychopharma.co.uk | | Source | Int J Clin Pract 2009 Jul; 63(7):1085-94. | | Abstract | OBJECTIVE: To compare cognitive impairment of medications used in social anxiety disorder (SAD).
METHODS: Data from peer-reviewed publications (1975-2007) of controlled, crossover design, pharmacodynamic studies on SAD medications in healthy volunteers were analysed. The number of objective psychometrics for each drug/dose level at all time points after dosing, and of instances of statistically significant impairment of cognitive function, enabled calculation of drug-induced cognitive impairment. The magnitude of impairment between drugs was compared using proportional impairment ratios (PIRs).
RESULTS: Olanzapine, oxazepam, lorazepam and mianserin had twice the average cognitive toxicity of other treatments. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) impaired cognition to a lesser extent than other pharmacological groupings. There was extensive intra-class variation: fluvoxamine (PIR = 0.08) possessed little detrimental cognitive activity, whereas sertraline (PIR = 5.33) caused impairment over five times the SSRI group average. Benzodiazepines caused noticeable cognitive impairment.
CONCLUSIONS: Substantial differences exist, both between and within therapeutic classes, in the behavioural toxicity of medications used for SAD. | | Language | eng | | Pub Type(s) | Journal Article
| | PubMed ID | 19570125 |
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