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. 2013 Jul 17;2013(7):CD004185. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD004185.pub3

Bennie 1995.

Methods Six‐week double‐blind, randomised multicentre study
Participants Outpatients with a diagnosis of major depression or bipolar disorder, depressed, according to DSM‐III‐R, scoring at least 18 on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression‐17 item (HDRS‐17), and with a higher on the Raskin Depression Scale than on the Covi Anxiety Scale.
 Age: over 18 years
 Exclusion criteria: pregnant or lactating women, women of childbearing potential not practicing a reliable method of contraception, patients with previous treatment with sertraline or fluoxetine, treated with MAOI within two weeks or other antidepressants medication within one week of double‐blind therapy, treated with reserpine or methyl‐dopa, likely to require additional treatments with psychoactive medication, ECT or intensive psychotherapy during the study; failure to respond to previous antidepressant therapy at clinically appropriate dosages, use of ECT to treat a previous episode of depression, a history of severe allergies or multiple adverse events associated with pharmacotherapy, the presence of significant medical disease; psychiatric history including another Axis I disorder and significant suicide risk.
Interventions Fluoxetine: 144 participants
 Sertraline: 142 participants
 Fluoxetine dose range: 20‐40 mg/day
 Sertraline dose range: 50‐100 mg/day
 Chloral hydrate (max 1 g) and temazepam (max 20 mg) were allowed as hypnotic
Outcomes Primary outcome: HDRS‐17, Clinical Global Impression Severity and Improvement Scales (CGI S‐I)
 Secondary outcomes: Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety, the Raskin Depression Scale and Covi Anxiety Scale, self‐rated Leeds Sleep Questionnaire
Notes Patients with concomitant medical conditions were allowed to participate in the study provided that the conditions were clearly not associated with the illness of the study and that any required medications were not psychoactive agents.
One patient attempted suicide in the fluoxetine group.
 Funding: by industry
Risk of bias
Bias Authors' judgement Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias) Unclear risk Quote: "randomly assigned, in equal proportion", no other information
Allocation concealment (selection bias) Unclear risk No information
Blinding (performance bias and detection bias) 
 All outcomes Unclear risk Double blind, no further information
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) 
 All outcomes Unclear risk Double blind, no further information
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) 
 All outcomes Unclear risk Double blind, no further information
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) 
 All outcomes Low risk Number and reasons for dropout reported. Scores reported with denominator
Selective reporting (reporting bias) Unclear risk Scores reported without standard deviations. Only adverse events occurring at least in 3% of the sample reported
Other bias High risk Quote: "supported by a research grant from international Pharmaceuticals group, Pfizer, Inc, New York". This company produces sertraline