Results From the Child/Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal Extended Long-Term Study (CAMELS): Primary Anxiety Outcomes

Abstract

Objective: To report anxiety outcomes from the multisite Child/Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal Extended Long-term Study (CAMELS). Rates of stable anxiety remission (defined rigorously as the absence of all DSM-IV TR anxiety disorders across all follow-up years) and predictors of anxiety remission across a 4-year period, beginning 4 to 12 years after randomization to 12 weeks of medication, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), their combination, or pill placebo were examined. Examined predictors of remission included acute treatment response, treatment assignment, baseline child and family variables, and interim negative life events.

Method: Data were from 319 youths (age range 10.9-25.2 years; mean age 17.12 years) originally diagnosed with separation, social, and/or generalized anxiety disorders and enrolled in the multi-site Child/Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal Study (CAMS). Participants were assessed annually by independent evaluators using the age-appropriate version of the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule and completed questionnaires (eg, about family functioning, life events, and mental health service use).

Results: Almost 22% of youth were in stable remission, 30% were chronically ill, and 48% were relapsers. Acute treatment responders were less likely to be in the chronically ill group (odds ratio = 2.73; confidence interval = 1.14-6.54; p < .02); treatment type was not associated with remission status across the follow-up. Several variables (eg, male gender) predicted stable remission from anxiety disorders.

Conclusion: Findings suggest that acute positive response to anxiety treatment may reduce risk for chronic anxiety disability; identified predictors can help tailor treatments to youth at greatest risk for chronic illness.

Clinical trial registration information: Child and Adolescent Anxiety Disorders (CAMS). http://clinicaltrials.gov/; NCT00052078.

Keywords: anxiety; cognitive-behavior therapy; follow-up; sertraline; treatment.