Is escitalopram effective for prevention of relapse of OCD?

OCD is a chronic condition that requires long-term treatment. Beyond the acute treatment effect of escitalopram in OCD, a relapse prevention study, comparing patients treated with escitalopram 10 or 20 mg after 16 weeks of initial treatment with patients being treated with placebo only 23 % of patients being treated with escitalopram relapsed, while 52 % of patients treated with placebo did. This demonstrates the need for long-term treatment and the long-term efficacy of escitalopram.