Table 3.

Controlled studies on treatment of post-stroke depression

Authors	No	Treatment studied	Design	Time from stroke	Trial length	Outcome measures	Results
Lipsey et al 1984	34	nortryptiline vs placebo	DB	≤18 m	4–6 w	HDRS, ZSRDS	nortriptyline more effective than placebo in reduction of depression
Reding et al 1986	27	trazodone vs placebo	DB	6 w	~4–5 w	ZSRDS	trazodone trend towards better functional status
Andersen et al 1994	66	citalopram vs placebo	DB	2–52 w	16 w	HDRS	citalopram more effective than placebo in reduction of depression
Lauritzen et al 1994	20	Imipramine+mianserin vs desipramine+mianserin	DB	<3 m	6 w	HDRS	Imipramine + mianserin more effective than desipramine + mianserin in reduction of depression
Robinson et al 2000	56	nortryptiline vs fluoxetine vs placebo	DB	4–16 w	12 w	HDRS	nortriptyline produced a significantly higher response rate than fluoxetine or placebo
Wiart et al 2000	31	fluoxetine vs placebo	DB	<3 m	6 w	MADRS	fluoxetine more effective than placebo in reduction of depression
Fruehwald et al 2003	54	fluoxetine vs placebo	DB	<2 w	3 m	HDRS, BDI	fluoxetine more effective than placebo at 18-month follow-up evaluation
Rampello et al 2004	74	citalopram vs reboxetina	DB	<12 m	16 w	HDRS, BDI	citalopram better in anxious depressed patients, reboxetine more effective in retarded depressed patients
Murray et al 2005	123	sertraline vs placebo	DB	3 d – 1y	26 w	MADRS, EDS	sertraline superior only in emotional distress, emotionalism and QoL
Choi-Kwon et al 2006	152	fluoxetine vs placebo	DB	14 m	3 m	BDI, clinical, STAS	fluoxetine more efficacious only in the treatment of emotional incontinence and anger proneness.

Abbreviations: w, weeks; m, months; y, years; DB, double-blind; BDI, Beck Depression Inventory; HDRS, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale; MADRS, Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale; QoL, Quality of Life; STAS, Spielberger Trait Anger Scale.