COMPARISON OF FLUVOXAMINE AND AMITRIPTYLINE IN DEPRESSED OUTPATIENTS

Thirty-three moderately depressed outpatients were enrolled in a doubl e-blind, randomized 7-week study comparing fluvoxamine maleate, a sele ctive serotonin reuptake inhibitor, with the tricyclic antidepressant amitriptyline. The mean drug dosages at the end of the study were 175 mg/day of fluvoxamine and 135 mg/day of amitriptyline. The majority of patients showed significant improvement in scores on the Hamilton Rat ing Scale for Depression and the Clinical Global Impression scale from study initiation to termination, with no statistically significant di fferences between drugs. There was no difference in the number of side effects noted with the two antidepressants, although more subjects in the amitriptyline group (6/17; 35.3%) withdrew from the study (becaus e of adverse effects) than in the fluvoxamine group (3/16; 18.8%).