Lorazepam placebo-controlled studies

Ceulemans DLS, Floppenbrouwers MLJA, Gelders YG, et al The influence of ritanserin, a serotonergic antagonist, in anxiety disorders a double-blind placebo-controlled study versus lorazepam. Pharmacopsychiatry 8 303-305, 1985... 

Fontaine R, Mercier P, Beaudry P, et al. Bromazepam and lorazepam in generalized anxiety a placebo-controlled study with measurement of drug plasma concentrations. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1986 74 451-458. 

Valproate Versus Lithium. The previously discussed Bowden et al. (135) study found the DVPX formulation to be comparable with lithium, which was used as a positive comparator in this placebo-controlled study. Freeman et al. (99) conducted a 3-week, double-blind, parallel-group comparison of VPA and lithium for acute mania. Both drugs demonstrated clinically significant efficacy (i.e., 9 of 14 responded to DVPX and 12 of 13 to lithium), and there was no difference in the need for rescue medications (i.e., lorazepam or chloral hydrate) between the two treatment groups. Response to VPA was associated with high pretreatment depression scores. 

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of sex differences in the effects of lorazepam in trained social drinkers, lorazepam substituted for alcohol equally in both sexes and increased associated scores for light-headedness (14). The women had much greater performance impairment in a digital symbol substitution test after lorazepam than the men. These results suggest that the stimulus and cognitive effects of benzodiazepine receptor agonists are modulated by different brain mechanisms. 

Prior use of benzodiazepines or opiates limits the psychotomimetic effects of ketamine. There has been a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of the role of lorazepam in reducing these effects after subanesthetic doses of ketamine in 23 volunteers who received lorazepam 2 mg or placebo, 2 hours before either a bolus dose of ketamine 0.26 mg/kg followed by an infusion of 0.65 mg/kg/hour or a placebo infusion (438). The ability of lorazepam to block the undesirable effects of ketamine was limited to just some effects. It reduced the ketamine-associated emotional distress and perceptual alterations, but exacerbated the sedative, attention-impairing, and amnesic effects of ketamine. However, it failed to reduce many of the cognitive and behavioral effects of ketamine. There were no pharmacokinetic interactions between subanesthetic doses of ketamine and lorazepam. 

In another study, Malsch and Kieser (2001) investigated the anxiolytic effects of WS 1490 compared to placebo in patients previously treated with a benzodiazepine. They evaluated the potential of the kava preparation as a replacement for the benzodiazepine, as well as the ability of the kava preparation to reduce benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms. This was a five-week randomized, double blind placebo-controlled study in outpatients with non-psychotic anxiety (e.g., generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia, and simple phobia). Forty patients were included, and all had been on benzodiazepines (i.e., lorazepam, bromazepam, oxazepam, or alprazolam) for a mean duration of 20 months prior to entering the study. Of the 40 patients, 25 were males, and the mean age of the total sample was 40 years (range 21—75 years). 

A placebo-controlled study in healthy subjects given nefazodone 200 mg twice daily found no changes in the pharmacokinetics of lorazepam 2 mg twice daily. Another study showed that psychomotor performance was not further impaired and no additional sedation occurred when nefazodone was given with lorazepam. ... 

Delle Chiaie, R., Pancheri, P., Casacchia, M., Stratta, P., Kotzalidis, G.D. and Zibellini, M. (1995) Assessment of the efficacy of buspirone in patients affected by generalized anxiety disorder, shifting to buspirone from prior treatment with lorazepam a placebo-controlled, doubleblind study. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 15,... 

Lemoine P, Touchon J, Billardon M. Comparison of 6 different methods for lorazepam withdrawal. A controlled study, hydroxyzine versus placebo. Encephala 1997 23 290-299. 

The psychomotor and amnesic effects of single oral doses of lorazepam 2 mg were studied in 48 healthy subjects in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, parallel-group study (9). The effects were assessed by a battery of subjective and objective tests that explored mood and vigilance, attention, psychomotor performance, and memory. Vigilance, psychomotor performance, and free recall were significantly impaired by lorazepam. 

In a separate study, pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modeling of the psychomotor and amnesic effects of a single oral dose of lorazepam 2 mg was investigated in 12 healthy volunteers in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, two-way, crossover study using the following tasks choice reaction time, immediate and delayed cued recall of paired words, and immediate and delayed free recall and recognition of pictures (12). The delayed recall trials were more impaired than the immediate recall trials similar observations were made with the recognition versus recall tasks. 

Psychological The effects of rupatadine 10 mg od with or without lorazepam 2 mg have been studied in a double-blind, crossover, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in 16 healthy young volunteers [30. The effects were evaluated by seven objective tests of psychomotor performance and eight subjective visual analogue scales before the dose and at several times thereafter. Compared with placebo rupatadine alone did not significantly impair psychomotor performance or subjective sedation and neither... 

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