STUDY DESIGN

Design:

randomised controlled trial (Child-Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal Study). ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00052078.

Allocation:

concealed.*

Blinding:

blinded (outcome assessors, and patients and clinicians in the sertraline and placebo groups).*

STUDY QUESTION

Setting:

6 centres in the USA.

Patients:

488 children 7–17 years of age (mean age 11 y, 50% boys) who had a primary diagnosis of separation or generalised anxiety disorder or social phobia, substantial impairment, and IQ ⩾80. Exclusion criteria were unstable medical conditions or psychiatric diagnoses inappropriate for the study (eg, major depressive disorder) and use of psychoactive drugs other than stable doses of stimulants, anxiety-related refusal to attend school, lack of response to 2 adequate …