An open study with acamprosate in Belgium and Luxemburg: results on sociodemographics, supportive treatment and outcome.

This open study on 614 alcohol-dependent patients from 51 centres in Belgium over 24 weeks collected data on the sociodemographic, medical and drug safety profiles and the type of psychosocial support most commonly associated with acamprosate. Psychiatric problems (34%) and gastro-intestinal ulcers (15%) were the most frequent other medical diagnoses. As supportive treatment, 48% of patients received individual psychotherapy, 25% group therapy, 16% relapse prevention and coping skills, 9% brief intervention and 2% family therapy. Fifteen (29%) centres used only 1 form of supportive treatment, 14 (27%) used 2 forms of support, 16 (31%) used 3 forms, 4 (8%) used 4 and only 2 centres (4%) used all 5 supportive treatment options. Three hundred and fifty-nine patients dropped out of the study. At any moment during the treatment period, up to 11% relapsed, 9% had binge drinking and 9% had drinking lapses. The quantity of alcohol consumption during relapse, lapse or binge drinking showed a considerable drop in the mean number of drinks per day, from 19.53 before treatment to 4.23-7.83 drinks for lapse drinking, 9.27-14.62 drinks for binge drinking and 4.96-10.29 drinks per day for relapse. All 8 dimensions of the SF36 quality of life questionnaire improved over the treatment period. Acamprosate was well tolerated by all patients.

Double-blind clinical study comparing alprazolam and doxepin in primary unipolar depression.

The therapeutic effect and safety of alprazolam and doxepin were studied in 126 outpatients suffering from primary unipolar depression. The 6-week study was double-blind with a random allocation of treatment. Patients were treated with a flexible dose of 1.0-4.5 mg of alprazolam and 50-225 mg of doxepin per day. The mean final doses were 2.7 mg for alprazolam and 137.5 mg for doxepin. The results indicate that alprazolam and doxepin were equally efficacious. The incidence of side-effects was lower in the alprazolam treatment group.

Sleep disorders in patients with severe mental depression: double-blind placebo-controlled evaluation of the value of pipamperone (Dipiperon).

Pipamperone was compared double-blindly with placebo to evaluate its capacity to relieve sleep disorders in 40 depressive inpatients. At the end of the 1-week trial, most of the items relating to sleep disturbances had improved significantly in the 24 patients of the pipamperone group whereas only a few items showed such a change in the control group. On the Hamilton depression scale, improvement in the pipamperone patients was also superior to that in the placebo group as regards the items "depressed mood" and "insight". The adequate median daily dose of pipamperone appeared to be 80 mg (2 tablets).