Kids and Zoloft

In the healthcare field there are few hot buttons quite as hot as the word “kids” beside the brand name of a powerful antidepressant drug. So when I saw a Reuters News headline that read “Kids Respond Positively to Zoloft, Study Finds,” my hot button was pushed.

Luckily, I know better than to trust a headline.

As reported in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers from the University of Texas tested the effects of Zoloft on children with “major depressive disorder,” aged 6 to 17 years. For 10 weeks, 189 subjects received daily doses of Zoloft, and 187 received a placebo. Results showed that 69 percent of the children in the Zoloft group responded favorably to the medication.

At first glance this would appear to be a ringing success for Pfizer, Inc., the company that makes Zoloft and the source of funding for the study. And you can be sure that future Pfizer promotional materials will report this study as a success.

But here’s the reality check: Among the children who took the placebo, 59 percent experienced a favorable reaction. Karen Wagner, the lead author of the study, told Reuters that this impressive showing from the placebo group could be chalked up to a combination of psychotherapy and the added attention the patients received during doctor visits.

I wonder if Pfizer executives got a little depressed when they heard that explanation from their lead author. Because what Ms. Wagner inadvertently revealed was this: With a difference in success rate of only 10 percentage points between the Zoloft group and the placebo group, it would seem that what these depressed kids really needed was a little attention and someone to talk to.

And that small margin between the groups is significant, because 17 subjects from the Zoloft group dropped out due to side effects that included vomiting, diarrhea, and anorexia. There was also an alarming tendency toward weight loss among kids in the Zoloft group.

Now we’ll have to watch and see if Pfizer execs have the audacity to market Zoloft as an anti-obesity drug for kids.

I wouldn’t put it past them.

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute

Sources:
“Efficacy of Sertraline in the Treatment of Children and Adolescents With Major Depressive Disorder” Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 290, No. 8, 8/27/03, jama.ama-assn.org
“Drug May Lift Children’s Depression – Kids Respond Positively to Zoloft, Study Finds” Reuters, 8/26/03, msnbc.com