Clinical assessment of the safety and efficacy of lorazepam, a new benzodiazepine derivative, in the treatment of anxiety.

In a four-week double-blind study of 68 adult outpatients, lorazepam a new benzodiazepine, administered at an average total daily dosage level of 3.1 mg on a b.i.d. regimen, was clearly superior to placebo in the treatment of neurotic anxiety and its related symptoms. The lorazepam-treated group showed significantly greater improvement than the placebo-treated group (both clinically and statistically), as evidenced by the greater changes on the physician-rated Global Scale as well as by the greater changes in almost all categories on the physician-rated Hamilton Anxiety Scale and the patient-rated Lipman-Rickels 35-Item Self-Rating Scale. There were no clinically significant changes in vital signs or laboratory values and only one side effect, urinary retention (resolved without discontinuing the drug), was reported.