• Mark J Boschen.
• School of Psychology and Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University, Southport Queensland, Australia. m.boschen@griffith.edu.au
• Can J Psychiatry. 2011 Sep 1; 56 (9): 558-66.

ObjectiveGeneralized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a chronic anxiety disorder that leads to significant functional impairment and reduced quality of life. Pregabalin is a novel analogue of the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma amino butyric acid, which has been proposed as a treatment for a range of conditions including GAD. This study examined the efficacy of pregabalin for GAD across published trials, using a meta-analytic method.MethodThis study examined the 7 published placebo-controlled trials of GAD using pregabalin, and, using meta-analytic techniques, we calculated the effect size of treatment with pregabalin (compared with placebo) on a total of 1352 people.ResultsThe overall effect size of pregabalin in the treatment of GAD was Hedges' g = 0.364, with an effect size of 0.349 on psychic anxiety symptoms and of 0.239 on somatic anxiety symptoms.ConclusionPregabalin is an efficacious therapy for GAD, although effect sizes are smaller than those from earlier studies. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.

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