24- and 36-Week Outcomes for the Child/Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal Study (CAMS)

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-1-2014

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: We report active treatment group differences on response and remission rates and changes in anxiety severity at weeks 24 and 36 for the Child/Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal Study (CAMS).

METHOD: CAMS youth (N = 488; 74% ≤12 years of age) with DSM-IV separation, generalized, or social anxiety disorder were randomized to 12 weeks of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), sertraline (SRT), CBT+SRT (COMB), or medication management/pill placebo (PBO). Responders attended 6 monthly booster sessions in their assigned treatment arm; youth in COMB and SRT continued on their medication throughout this period. Efficacy of COMB, SRT, and CBT (n = 412) was assessed at 24 and 36 weeks postrandomization. Youth randomized to PBO (n = 76) were offered active CAMS treatment if nonresponsive at week 12 or over follow-up and were not included here. Independent evaluators blind to study condition assessed anxiety severity, functioning, and treatment response. Concomitant treatments were allowed but monitored over follow-up.

RESULTS: The majority (>80%) of acute responders maintained positive response at both weeks 24 and 36. Consistent with acute outcomes, COMB maintained advantage over CBT and SRT, which did not differ, on dimensional outcomes; the 3 treatments did not differ on most categorical outcomes over follow-up. Compared to COMB and CBT, youth in SRT obtained more concomitant psychosocial treatments, whereas those in SRT and CBT obtained more concomitant combined (medication plus psychosocial) treatment.

CONCLUSIONS: COMB maintained advantage over CBT and SRT on some measures over follow-up, whereas the 2 monotherapies remained indistinguishable. The observed convergence of COMB and monotherapy may be related to greater use of concomitant treatment during follow-up among youth receiving the monotherapies, although other explanations are possible. Although outcomes were variable, most CAMS-treated youth experienced sustained treatment benefit. Clinical trial registration information-Child and Adolescent Anxiety Disorders (CAMS); URL: http://clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00052078.

Publication Title

Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Volume

53

Issue

3

First Page

297

Last Page

310

PubMed ID

24565357

Comments

This article was published in Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Volume 53, Issue 3, March 2014, Pages 297-310.

An author manuscript version of the article is available from PubMed Central at the link.

The published version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2013.11.010

Copyright © 2014 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

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