Fluoxetine versus sertraline and paroxetine in major depression: tolerability and efficacy in anxious depression. A randomized, double-blind, 24-week study comparing the efficacy and tolerability of mirtazapine and paroxetine in depressed patients in primary care.
Major depression with high levels of anxiety (anxious depression) is a common subtype of depression associated with greater psychosocial impairment and poorer response to antidepressant treatment. It is unclear whether in this population there are differences in efficacy or tolerability across selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. For this reason, using head-to-head acute treatment comparison, we compared efficacy and tolerability of fluoxetine, sertraline, and paroxetine among depressed patients with high levels of anxiety.
                Patients (N = 108) with DSM-IV major depression and high levels of anxiety (a HAM-D-Anxiety/Somatization Factor score > or =7) were randomized to fluoxetine, sertraline, or paroxetine treatment in a double-blind fashion. Changes in overall depression and anxiety were assessed.
                Patients demonstrated similar baseline-to-endpoint improvement in HAM-D-17 and HAM-D-Anxiety/Somatization Factor scores. Patients also demonstrated similar change-over-time improvement in HAM-D-17 and HAM-D-Anxiety/Somatization Factor scores, except at week one where fluoxetine- and sertraline-treated patients had statistically significantly greater improvement than paroxetine-treated patients in the HAM-D-Anxiety/Somatization Factor score. There were no significant differences across treatments in percentages of patients with substantial emergence, any worsening, or improvement at endpoint in individual HAM-D Items 9 (agitation), 10 (psychic anxiety), and 11 (somatic anxiety). Overall, all treatments were well tolerated.
                These data showed no significant differences in efficacy and tolerability of fluoxetine, sertraline, and paroxetine in patients with high levels of baseline anxiety symptoms during the acute treatment of major depression. Each treatment was similarly effective in improving depression in this subtype of patients with anxious depression. Primary care patients with a major depressive disorder and 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (17-HAM-D) score >18 were randomized to 24 weeks of treatment with mirtazapine 30-45 mg/day (n=99) or paroxetine 20-30 mg/day (n=98). Both treatments were efficacious in improving depressive symptomatology, as assessed by group mean 17-HAM-D scores, percentages of HAM-D responders and remitters and Clinical Global Improvement responders. The mirtazapine group showed statistically significantly larger decreases from baseline in group mean 17-HAM-D scores at weeks 1, 2 and 4, and the difference with the paroxetine group reached the level of clinical relevance at weeks 2 and 4. Antidepressant efficacy was maintained throughout both the acute and continuation phase of treatment. Both treatments were well tolerated. The only adverse event with a statistically significantly higher incidence in the mirtazapine group was fatigue. Statistically significantly more paroxetine-treated patients complained of increased sweating, headache and nausea. The results demonstrate that both mirtazapine and paroxetine were efficacious and well tolerated when used for 24 weeks in depressed patients treated in primary care. An observed difference in efficacy favouring mirtazapine between weeks 1 and 4 indicates that mirtazapine patients had improved earlier compared to those on paroxetine, and corroborates similar findings in other comparisons of mirtazapine versus selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.
Both desipramine and paroxetine show a trend towards efficacy in depression in MS the short term, but both treatments were associated with adverse effects, with significantly more patients treated with paroxetine suffering from nausea or headache. Further clinical research on the treatment of depression in MS is clearly needed. Future trials should address the efficacy and tolerability in the long term and compare antidepressant treatments head-to-head.