Sertraline reduced patient dropout rates and acute exacerbation of symptoms in obsessive compulsive disorder.

Main outcome measures Dropout from the study because of relapse or insufficient response, acute exacerbation of OCD symptoms, relapse, and quality of life. Relapse was defined according to 3 criteria: increase in Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (YBOCS) score of ≥ 5, total YBOCS score of ≥ 20, and ≥ 1 point increase on the Clinical Global Impression (CGI) improvement scale during 3 consecutive visits at 2 week intervals. Acute exacerbation of OCD was defined as an increase in YBOCS score of ≥ 5 points to ≥ 20 or an increase in score of ≥ 2 points on the CGI improvement scale; and response was defined as ≥ 25% decrease in total YBOCS scores from baseline level and CGI improvement scale score ≤ 3.