Therapeutic effects of venlafaxine extended release for patients with depressive and anxiety disorders in the German outpatient setting - results of 2 observational studies including 8500 patients]

The therapeutic effects of venlafaxine extended release have been investigated by two prospective observational studies including 8506 patients in the outpatient setting of office based general practitioners and specialists. The efficacy has been documented by the Clinical Global Impression (CGI) scale and by the Hamilton depression (HAMD-21) scale. The tolerability has been assessed by the documentation of adverse events. About 2/3 of the patients were treated because of depression and about 1/3 mainly because of anxiety disorder. The patients of specialists did receive higher dosages and were more severely affected. The response rate on the CGI scale was 87.4 for the patients of general practitioners and 74.2% for the patients of specialists. The results of the HAMD-21 scale, which has been used by specialists, showed a response rate of 71.8 and a remission rate of 56.3%. These positive effects could be demonstrated even for the more severely and chronically affected patients. The incidence of adverse events was low in both studies and comparable to the tolerability profile of randomized studies. Importantly, the good tolerability profile was similar even for patients with concomitant cardiovascular disease. In conclusion, these results confirm the efficacy and good tolerability of venlafaxine extended release in the outpatient setting in Germany.