Abstract
The authors evaluate in their paper the effectiveness and tolerance of mianserin in the treatment of depression and anxiety in children and adolescents. In the introduction they mention available data from the literature in the general and child population.
Next they evaluate from the documentation their own observations of effectiveness and tolerance of the drug during the first six weeks of treatment. Mianserin was administered to a total of 13 patients (9 girls and 4 boys) aged 13.5 to 18 years (mean age 15.8 years), 30 to 90 mg/day.
In the sub-group of seven depressive patients with diagnoses of mild and medium severe depressive stage with a mean age of 16.4 years the drug was administered in amounts of 30 to 90 mg/day (mean 55.7 mg per day). The effectiveness was evaluated in all patients retrospectively by CGI (Clinical Global Impression).
After three weeks a significant drop of the median score of CGI from 5 to 2 occurred (p < 0.02), after 5 - 6 weeks to score 1 (p < 0.02). In addition to mild initial sedation in two patients mianserin was well tolerated.
In a sub-group of six patients with anxiety states (diagnosis dissociative disorder, adaptation disorder, somatoform painful disorder and anorganic sleep disorder) with a mean age of 15.2 years the drug was administered in doses of 30 to 90 mg/day (mean 56.7 mg/day). The effectiveness was evaluated in all patients retrospectively by CGI: after three weeks a significant decline of the median score of CGI from 4.5 to 2 was recorded (p < 0.05) after 5 - 6 weeks to score 1.5 (p < 0.05).
Mianserin was in all instances well tolerated. In our opinion mianserin is a suitable preparation for the treatment of depression and anxiety states in childhood and adolescence.