Comparison of escitalopram and paroxetine in the treatment of major depressive disorder.

This is a single-blind, parallel, flexible-dose study to compare the efficacy and tolerability of escitalopram and paroxetine in the treatment of patients with major depressive disorder. We recruited 399 patients from the outpatient clinics of five hospitals in northern Taiwan. Patients were administered either escitalopram (10-30 mg) or paroxetine (20-40 mg) according to the judgment of clinicians. These patients were assessed using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety at weeks 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8. A total of 302 patients fulfilled the evaluation criteria and were included in a statistical analysis. We found that escitalopram induced more significant symptom reduction and response rate in terms of the mean HAM-D scores at week 6 (P<0.05) and week 8 (P<0.05) than paroxetine, but that there were no significant differences between the two groups in the remission rate. Escitalopram induced significantly less frequency of adverse effects of weakness (P<0.01), nausea and vomiting (P<0.001), drowsiness (P<0.01) as well as somnolence (P<0.01) than paroxetine, although all these side effects were mild and tolerable. However for a more definitive result, future prospective trials with the inclusion of a placebo group and a double-blind design are needed. In patients who did not have severe depression (HAM-D score at baseline<21), but not in severely depressed patients, escitalopram was statistically superior to paroxetine, as shown by the mean change in the HAM-D score.