Mild serotonin syndrome on fluvoxamine.

OBJECTIVE

This preliminary study was performed to investigate the prevalence and severity of the serotonin-related symptoms for a group of patients in a clinical setting during fluvoxamine (FLU) using the Japanese version of the Serotonin Syndrome Scale (JSSS).

METHODS

The subjects for the present study were 37 patients (20 and 17 patients with mood and anxiety disorders, respectively), meeting a diagnosis of DSM-IV. Each subject gave informed consent for the research involved in this study. Presence and severity of the serotonin-related symptoms were determined by Sternbach's criteria and the JSSS, respectively.

RESULTS

(1) At the time of assessment, none of the patients fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of SS proposed by Sternbach, or none of the total JSSS scores of the patients was sufficient to reach the cutoff point of 7. (2) Sixteen of the 37 patients (43.2%) showed at least one symptom in the JSSS. (3) Spearman's rank correlations showed that there was a positive but nonsignificant correlation between the total JSSS scores and dosages of FLU.

CONCLUSION

This preliminary study suggested that milder forms of the serotonin syndrome may exist for a group of patients in a clinical setting during FLU therapy.