Table 1. Characteristics of included studies.

HDRS – Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. MADRS – Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale. CGI – Clinical Global Impression Scale. Response and remission criteria refer to those used in this meta-analysis, in some cases alternative criteria were employed in original study publications.

Study	Year	Study size (n)	Antidepressant used	Diagnostic Criteria	%age Bipolar	Location	Ethnicity	Response criterion	Remission Criterion	Ref
Smeraldi	1998	53	fluvoxamine	DSM IV	27	Italy	Not specified		HDRS 7 or less	(11)
Kim	2000	120	fluoxetine or paroxetine	DSM III R	0	USA	Korean ancestry	HDRS 50% reduction		(22)
Pollock	2000	95	paroxetine or nortriptyline	DSM IV	0	USA	Not specified		HDRS <11	(23)
Zanardi	2000	58	paroxetine	DSM IV	unclear	Italy	Italian descent		HDRS 7 or less	(24)
Zanardi	2001	88	fluvoxamine	DSM IV	31	Italy	Italian antecedents for at least two generations		HDRS 7 or less	(25)
Rausch	2002	51	fluoxetine	DSM IV	0	USA	Not specified	HDRS 50% reduction		(26)
Yoshida	2002	54	fluvoxamine	DSM IV	0	Japan	Japanese	MADRS 50% reduction		(27)
Yu	2002	121	fluoxetine	DSM IV	0	China	Ethnic Chinese	HDRS 50% reduction	HDRS 7 or less	(28)
Arias	2003	131	citalopram	DSM IV	0	Spain	Spanish origin	HDRS 50% reduction	HDRS 7 or less	(29)
Joyce	2003	86	fluoxetine	DSM III R	9 (bipolar II)	New Zealand	95% European, largely British descent	MADRS reduction 60% or more		(30)
Durham	2004	106	sertraline	DSM IV	0	USA	95.4% Caucasian, 2.8% Black, 1.38% other, and 0.46% Asian	HDRS 50% reduction		(31)
Lee	2004	128	various (57% SSRI)	DSM IV	0	Korean	Korean	CGII 1 or 2		(32)
Serretti	2004	220	paroxetine or fluvoxamine	DSM IV	42	Italy	Italian antecedents for at least two generations		HDRS 7 or less	(33)
Kraft	2005	96	fluoxetine	DSM IV	0	USA	78% Cauca- sian, 6% African American, 8% Hispanic, 5% Asian, and 3% other	CGI I much or very much improved		(34)
Kato	2006	100	paroxetine or fluvoxamine	DSM IV	0	Japan	Japanese	HDRS 50% reduction	HDRS 7 or less	(35)
Kim	2006	241	fluoxetine or sertraline	DSM IV	unclear	Korea	Korean	HDRS 50% reduction		(36)
Ng	2006	45	sertraline	DSM-IV	0	Australia & Malaysia	67% Chinese 33% Caucasian	HDRS 50% reduction		(37)
Popp	2006	109	various	ICD 10	12	Germany	97% Caucasian	response on CGI		(38)
STAR*D	2006	1659	citalopram	DSM IV	0	USA	80% White, 14% Black, 6% Other	QIDS-C16 50% reduction	QIDS-C <6	(39)
Hong	2006	224	fluoxetine	DSM IV	0	Taiwan	Ethnic Chinese	HDRS 50% reduction	HDRS 7 or less	(40)
Kirchheiner	2007	190	various	DSM IV	12	Germany	Caucasian	HDRS 50% reduction	HDRS 7 or less	(41)
Bozina	2007	130	paroxetine	DSM-IV	0	Croatia	Caucasian (Croatian)	HDRS 50% reduction		(42)
Kang	2007	101	mirtazapine	DSM-IV	unclear	Korea	Korean	HDRS 50% reduction		(43)
Dogan	2008	64	sertraline	DSM-IV	0	Turkey	Turkish	HDRS 50% reduction	HDRS 7 or less	(44)
Wilkie	2009	166	various	DSM-IV	0	UK	Caucasian	HDRS 50% reduction	HDRS 7 or less	(45)
Ruhé	2009	42	paroxetine	DSM-IV	0	Netherlands	69% Caucasian, 17% Creole, 14% Asian	HDRS 50% reduction		(46)
Maron	2009	135	escitalopram	DSM-IV	0	Estonia	96% Estonian	HDRS 50% reduction	HDRS 7 or less	(47)
GENDEP	2009	795	escitalopram or nortriptyline	DSM-IV / ICD-10	0	Europe	White European parentage	HDRS 50% reduction	HDRS 7 or less	(48)