Table 1.

Incidence of withdrawal in double-blind RCTs captured in Davies and Read [5]

Double-blind RCTs (year)	Period of treatment before cessation	Period of observation	Definition of withdrawal syndrome	People with withdrawal syndromes	Total stopped from medication	Proportion with withdrawal (%)
Oehrberg [78] (1995)	12 weeks	2 weeks	‘Any adverse effect on discontinuation’	19	55	34.6
Rosenbaum [41] (1998)	11.4 months	5–8 days	DESS ≥ 4	86	185	46.5
Zajecka [45] (1998)	12 weeks	6 weeks	‘New or worsened events’	64	95	67.4
Hindmarch [43] (2000)	‘At least 3 months’	4–7 days	DESS ≥ 4	66	86	76.7
Montgomery [79] (2005)	12 weeks	2 weeks	DESS ≥ 4	49	181	27.1
Sir [52] (2005)	8 weeks	2 weeks	Any discontinuation-emergent symptom	110	129	85.3
Total				394	731	53.9

DESS discontinuation-emergent signs and symptoms, RCTs randomised controlled trials