What the trial was testing
The UNWIND enrolled 128 patients with anxiety. The study was sponsored by Duke University and tracked outcomes across the full group of patients who matched the trial's eligibility profile.
Researchers followed patients through treatment and into recovery, tracking the outcomes that mattered most for the disease being studied.
What the results showed
Escitalopram lowered anxiety scores 5.7 points — about double exercise.
JAMA Psychiatry · 2021 · NCT02516332
These findings — that anxiety score on escitalopram vs. inactive comparison in coronary heart disease — were published in the JAMA Psychiatry and represent the headline result of the study.
Researchers tracked outcomes across 128 patients enrolled in the trial. The result was consistent enough across the group that the team felt confident reporting it.
What this means for patients
For patients with anxiety, this result changes the calculus on what to ask their care team about. Whether it changes day-to-day care depends on factors like disease subtype, prior treatments, and where the patient is in their care journey.
What you can do now
Escitalopram (Lexapro) is FDA-approved and available now as a once-daily generic pill. It is one of the first-line treatments for anxiety disorders. Aerobic exercise is also good for the heart and mood, even if anxiety relief was modest in this study. Ask a primary care doctor or psychiatrist about a plan that includes both.
Eligibility for the treatments mentioned above depends on specific test results and clinical history. Bring this summary, the trial name, and your most recent labs or pathology report to your next visit.
Open anxiety trials
Fear and Anxiety in Anesthesia-Naïve Patients Pre-operatively vs Post-operatively
The goal of this observational study is to understand how fear and anxiety felt by anesthesia-naive patients compares before versus after their scheduled surgery. Patients who are scheduled to undergo a low-risk surgery/procedure and have never had anesthesia before will be asked to: 1. Fill out a survey before their surgery in the perioperative setting 2. Answer follow-up questions over the phone a few days after their surgery.
Breathe Hard to Breathe Easy: Online Breathwork-Assisted Therapy for Social Anxiety
This study aims to investigate the potential of supplementing psychotherapy with breathing techniques as a new online therapeutic approach to reduce social anxiety (SA). Clinically significant SA affects a substantial portion of the population (about 13%) and is associated with strong negative feelings of shame and anxiety in social settings. Such emotional distress leads to impairment in personal, relational, and professional functioning and may result in increasing degrees of social isolation. In response to the demand for improved treatments for SA, this project aims to explore the efficacy of a novel treatment approach integrating online psychotherapy with online breathwork sessions designed to induce ASC. We will recruit 96 individuals with SA, who will be randomly divided into two groups: one group will receive the new combined breathwork-assisted psychotherapy, and the other an active control intervention that does not induce ASC. Over the treatment duration, the effectiveness of these treatments will be closely monitored using established psychological scales and by observing patients in live interactions before and after therapy. This project is expected to open the way to a more accessible and effective treatment option for a large group of people struggling with SA. More broadly, the findings will also contribute to our understanding of how ASC, induced through breathing techniques, can be used therapeutically. This could change the way a variety of mental health conditions (e.g., other anxiety-related conditions and depression) are treated, making a substantial impact on public health and the way mental health disorders are approached and managed.