Extended-release fluvoxamine and improvements in quality of life in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Objective: We hypothesized that subjects with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) who received extended-release fluvoxamine (fluvoxamine ER) in a 12-week placebo-controlled trial would exhibit improvements in psychosocial domains of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and that additional improvements would occur after a 40-week open-label extension trial. We also hypothesized that greater OCD symptom improvement in the first 12 weeks of treatment would be associated with greater HRQOL improvement after 52 weeks of treatment. Methods: In the 12-week placebo-controlled trial, subjects were randomized to receive placebo or 100 mg/d of fluvoxamine ER and then titrated in weekly 50 mg increments to a final dose of 100 to 300 mg/d. All subjects enrolled in the 40-week extension trial followed a similar titration, during which they were maintained on their highest well-tolerated dose. Results: After 12 weeks of treatment, fluvoxamine ER subjects experienced significantly greater decreases than placebo subjects in Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale scores (P = .001). Both the active drug and placebo groups exhibited significant improvements in psychosocial domains of HRQOL; further improvement occurred after 40 weeks of open-label treatment with active drug. The greater the improvement in OCD severity at 12 weeks, the greater the improvement at 52 weeks in the psychosocial domains (Social Functioning r = -0.39, P = .027; Emotional Problems r = -0.37, P = .037; Mental Health r = -0.49, P = .004). Conclusion: Improvement in Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale severity scores during treatment with fluvoxamine ER was associated with improvements in psychosocial aspects of HRQOL that increased over an extended period of treatment.