The Journal of clinical psychiatry
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
A double-blind placebo-controlled study of fluvoxamine and imipramine in depression.
Outpatients with major affective disorder, unipolar depressed type (N=101), were treated in a 4-week placebo-controlled double-blind study to compare the efficacy and safety of fluvoxamine, a new serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressant, with imipramine and placebo. Therapy was initiated at 50 mg/day; thereafter, dosage ranged between 100 and 300 mg/day for both drugs. ⋯ Fluvoxamine showed some evidence of earlier onset of action. Anticholinergic side effects were more common in the imipramine-treated patients, while fluvoxamine produced more gastrointestinal distress and insomnia.
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The effects of fluoxetine on the ECG were compared to those of placebo, imipramine, amitriptyline, and doxepin. ECG tracings at the beginning and end of several drug studies were evaluated retrospectively, without knowledge of the drug to which patients had been assigned. ⋯ Intraventricular conduction delays were noted in 5 patients who received imipramine and 1 patient who received amitriptyline: 4 of these patients developed left bundle branch block. No intraventricular conduction delays were noted in fluoxetine-treated patients.