Double-blind, placebo-controlled randomised controlled trials that evaluated the effects of adding quetiapine to the treatment of patients with OCD who were unresponsive to SRIs were eligible for inclusion. Patients were diagnosed using the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-IV OCD criteria.
The primary review outcome was change from baseline in the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) total score. The secondary review outcomes were: responder rates (as defined by individual studies); changes in baseline depression scores (Hamilton Depression Scale or Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale); change from baseline in the Sheehan Disability Scale score; number of patients leaving the the study early and number leaving due to adverse events and; number of serious adverse events.
In the included studies, treatment duration ranged from 6 to 16 weeks, the maximum quetiapine dose was 300 or 400 mg/day, mean baseline Y-BOCS scores ranged from 24.1 to 28.2, and the mean age ranged from 31.8 to 37.9 years across treatment groups. Approximately 60% of all participants were female. Some of the included studies excluded patients with co-morbid axis one pathology including tic disorders; one did not.
The authors did not state how the papers were selected for the review, or how many reviewers performed the selection.