Table 1.

Systematic review inclusion and exclusion criteria

Outcome		Inclusion		Exclusion Criteria
Efficacy / Effectiveness	•	Randomized, controlled trials comparing one second-generation antidepressant to another second-generation antidepressant or placebo	•	Statistically significant differences between treatment groups deemed to affect outcomes (e.g., baseline severity of illness)
	•	Study duration 12 weeks or longer	•	Fatal flaws in study design or data analysis that contribute to a “poor” quality rating for internal validity
	•	Adult and pediatric outpatients
	•	Outcomes include: Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, Clinical Global Impression of Improvement scale, or the Sheehan Disability Scale
Safety / Tolerability	•	Randomized, controlled trials comparing one second-generation antidepressant to another second-generation antidepressant or placebo	•	Statistically significant differences between treatment groups deemed to affect outcomes (e.g., baseline severity of illness)
	•	Study duration 12 weeks or longer	•	Fatal flaws in study design or data analysis that contribute to a “poor” quality rating for internal validity