Methods	Twelve-week double-blind, randomised, multicentre study.
Participants	Patients fulfilling DSM-III criteria for major depressive disorder, with a score of at least 20 on HDRS-21. Age range: not stated. Exclusion criteria: significant concurrent illness including renal, hepatic, cardiovascular or neurological disease, non-stabilised diabetes, other current Axis I psychiatric diagnosis; organic brain syndrome, past or present abuse of alcohol or drugs; pregnancy or lactating; ECT; continuous lithium therapy in preceeding 2 months, use of important psychotropic drug, current therapy with an anticoagulant or type 1 antiarrhytmic
Interventions	Fluoxetine: 101 participants. Paroxetine: 102 participants. Fluoxetine dose range: 20-80 mg/day. Paroxetine dose range: 20-50 mg/day. Chloral hydrate was allowed just during the first two weeks of the study
Outcomes	Primary outcome: Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HDRS-21), Clinical Global Impression. Secondary outcomes: HAM- anxiety and somatisation scores.
Notes	Response: decrease of at least 50% in the HAM-D total score and/or a total score less than 10. Two participants dropped out (1 in the fluoxetineand 1 in the paroxetine group) due to attempted suicide. Funding: by industry
Risk of bias
Item	Authors’ judgement	Description
Allocation concealment?	Unclear	B - Unclear