Methods	Twelve-week double-blind, randomised, multicentre study.
Participants	Outpatients with a score between 18 and 25 on the HDRS-21 and minimum baseline of 8 on the Covi Anxiety Scale, and considered by the investigator to be moderately depressed. Age range: 18-70. Exclusion criteria: pregnancy, chilbearing potential, absence of contraceptive method, psychiatric disease or personality disorder, known clinically significant laboratory abnormalities, use of antipsychotic drug or ECT within 30 days of baseline, use of fluoxetine within 21 and MAOI within 14 of baseline; patients who previously failed to respond to venlafaxine or fluoxetine, high suicide risk
Interventions	Fluoxetine: 73 participants. Venlafaxine: 73 participants. Fluoxetine dose range: 20-40 mg/day. Venlafaxine dose range: 75-150 mg/day. Lormetazepam was allowed (2 mg) as hypnotic.
Outcomes	Primary outcomes: Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HDRS-21), Montgomery and Asberg Scale for Depression (MADRS), CGI-Severity of Illness. Secondary outcome: Covi Anxiety Scale.
Notes	Response: decrease of at least 50% in the HAM-D or in the MADRS total score. Remission: total score less than 8 on the HDRS-21. Funding: by industry
Risk of bias
Item	Authors’ judgement	Description
Allocation concealment?	Unclear	B - Unclear