Zoloft Found Safe, Effective in Children

HealthDay, August, 2003

(HealthDay is the new name for HealthScoutNews.)

The antidepressant Zoloft appears to be safe and effective for children and adolescents suffering from major depressive disorder, a new study finds.

Zoloft, known generically as sertraline, is one of a class of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Although the drugs are commonly considered to be the best available pharmaceutical option for depressed children and teens, there is relatively little hard data for this age group.

"There is a gap between our use of medications and the study of the medications," says Dr. Karen Dineen Wagner, lead author of the study that appears in the Aug. 27 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association . She is also a professor of psychiatry and director of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

The medications are usually studied first in adults ...