Moak 2003.

Methods	Randomized, placebo‐controlled trial
Participants	82 depressed people with alcohol dependence (50 men and 32 women; age (mean ± SD): sertraline = 41 ± 11 years; placebo = 42 ± 10 years) Inclusion criteria: current DSM‐III‐R diagnoses of depression or dysthymic disorder and alcohol dependence or abuse HRSD ≥ 17, both at screening and at the end of 1 week of single‐blind placebo minimum of 40 standard drinks during month before study entry Exclusion criteria: any current psychoactive substance dependence other than nicotine psychoactive substance abuse in month before study entry other than marijuana current panic disorder or post‐traumatic stress disorder lifetime history of bipolar affective or psychotic disorder evidence of treatment‐resistant depression significant current suicidal ideation or plan, homicidal ideation, unstable medical illness, or history of a seizure disorder Participants with bipolar disorder were excluded.
Interventions	Drugs: sertraline (up to 200 mg/day; 38 participants) placebo (44 participants) Psychotherapy: weekly individual CBT according to Project MATCH guidelines Scheduled duration of treatment: 12 weeks Site: Alcohol Research Center, Center for Drug and Alcohol Programs, Charleston, SC, USA Setting: outpatients Route of administration: orally Starting dose: 50 mg/day Pattern of dose reduction: titrated back down 50 mg over 7‐day period
Outcomes	Depression: final HRSD score final BDI score response (calculated from significant depression) Alcohol dependence: rate of abstinent days number of drinks per drinking days number of heavy drinkers (calculated from a figure on % without relapse) Dropout Adverse effects
Notes	Baseline characteristics of participants Depression: primary depression (rate of participants): 85.4% duration: information not available HRSD score (mean ± SD): sertraline = 19.4 ± 2.6; placebo = 18.8 ± 2.4 Alcohol dependence: number of drinks per drinking days (mean ± SD): sertraline = 11.3 ± 5.2; placebo = 10.5 ± 4.5 duration (mean ± SD): sertraline = 10.9 ± 8.0 years; placebo = 12.0 ± 8.6 years being actively drinking: participants had to have drunk a minimum of 40 standard drinks during the month before length of abstinence: not available Other psychiatric comorbidity: participants with other mental disorders were excluded. Other substance use disorders: participants with substance use disorders were excluded. Other characteristics of study Other pharmacological treatment offered: other pharmacological treatments were not allowed. Funding source: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (grant AA10476). Pfizer supplied study drug and matched placebo. Declarations of interest: information not available
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Urn randomization used.
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Method of concealment not provided.
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Double‐blind, placebo‐controlled medication design applied. Medications dispensed in identically tablets. No further details provided on blinding of participants and personnel.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) objective	Low risk	No information provided on blinding of assessors.
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) subjective	Unclear risk	No information provided on blinding of assessors.
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Intention‐to‐treat analysis used.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	All expected outcomes reported.