Relative Efficacy and Acceptability of Antidepressant Drugs in Adults With Major Depressive Disorder: Commentary on a Network Meta-Analysis

A large number of antidepressant drugs are available across the world. All have been compared against placebo, and many have been compared with some but not all other antidepressants. There is therefore little information about a hierarchy of the efficacy and acceptability of these drugs. About 9 years ago, a network meta-analysis attempted to rank the efficacy and acceptability of 12 newer antidepressant drugs in adults with major depressive disorder. Very recently, this network meta-analysis was updated to include 21 antidepressant drugs, most of which were introduced during the 1980s and afterward. The present article explains what meta-analysis and network meta-analysis do, summarizes the important findings of the 21-antidepressant network meta-analysis, and offers comments on the findings. In general, it appears that antidepressant drugs are associated with clinically significant superiority over placebo with regard to response and remission rates; that almost all antidepressants do not differ from placebo with regard to all-cause discontinuation; that escitalopram, mirtazapine, amitriptyline, venlafaxine, and paroxetine are associated with better response rates than certain other antidepressants; that reboxetine, trazodone, and fluoxetine are associated with poorer response rates than certain other antidepressants; that agomelatine, escitalopram, and vortioxetine are associated with lower all-cause discontinuation than certain other antidepressants; and that clomipramine, reboxetine, and duloxetine are associated with higher all-cause discontinuation than certain other antidepressants. Whereas this conclusion is necessarily subjective, escitalopram could be a first choice in the balance of efficacy and acceptability, and reboxetine, the last choice. The strengths and limitations of the network meta-analysis are examined, and some comments on the findings are offered.