. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Sep 15.

Published in final edited form as: Psychiatr Clin North Am. 2011 Jun;34(2):335–iii. doi: 10.1016/j.psc.2011.02.005

Table 1.

Comparing antidepressants for acute treatment of LLD: duration of treatment

	Primary Outcome Efficacy (Change in HDRS)		Secondary Outcome (Withdrawal Rates)
Antidepressant Classes Compared	No. of Trials	RR	No. of Trials	Withdrawal Rates
	16		26
TCAs vs SSRIs	9 trials	No difference (RR 1.07, CI 0.94–1.22)	14	SSRI<TCAs (RR 1.36, CI 1.09–1.70)
TCAs vs MAOIs	2 studies	RR 1.16, CI 0.74–1.83	3	ND (RR 0.91, CI 0.64–1.29)
TCAs vs atypicals^a	4 trials	RR 0.84, CI 0.51–1.38	8	ND (RR 0.96, CI 0.75–1.24)
SSRIs vs MAOIs	1 trial	RR 0.81, CI 0.55–1.20	1	ND (RRs not given)
MAOIs vs atypical	No trial		No trial
SSRIs vs atypicals	No trial		No trial

Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; RR, risk ratio; HDRS, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale; MAOI, monoamine oxidase inhibitors.

Atypical antidepressants: tianeptine, mirtazepine, reboxetine, buspirone, milnaciprin, bupropion.

Data from Mottram P, Wilson K, Strobl J. Antidepressants for depressed elderly. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2006;1:CD003491.