The following is a summary of “Escitalopram versus other antidepressive agents for major depressive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” published in the November 2023 issue of Psychiatry by Yin et al.

Escitalopram is an exclusive serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant (AD) usually prescribed to treat major depressive disorder (MDD). 

Researchers performed a retrospective study to differentiate the efficacy, acceptability, and tolerability of escitalopram to further antidepressants in the acute treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD).

They searched Medline/PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, and Clinical Trials.gov (July 10, 2023). Agencies manually examined databases for controlled trials, covering published, unpublished, and ongoing studies. All trials comparing escitalopram with other antidepressants for MDD patients were included. Intention-to-treat analysis calculated treatment responders and remitters. RRs with 95% CIs were computed for dichotomous data, and continuous data were assessed with standardized mean differences (95% CI) using the random effects model.

The results showed 30 studies with 16 trials examining the efficacy of escitalopram compared to another SSRI, while 14 trials assessed its effectiveness against a newer AD. Escitalopram showed a significantly higher efficacy than citalopram in achieving acute response (RR 0.67, 95% CI 0.50—0.87). Furthermore, escitalopram outperformed citalopram in remission (RR 0.53, 95% CI 0.30—0.93).

Investigators concluded that escitalopram outperformed other antidepressants for acute MDD treatment but showed no difference in early or follow-up response.

Source: bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-023-05382-8