Venlafaxine in depression

Oslin DW, Ten Have TR, Streim IE, et at Probing the safety of medications in the frail elderly evidence from a randomized clinical trial of sertraline and venlafaxine in depressed nursing home residents. 1 Clin Psychiatry 2003, 64 875-882. 

Subsequently, the UK Committee on Safety of Medicines issued guidance for practitioners, indicating that with the exception of fluoxetine, the benefit-harm balance of SSRIs and venlafaxine in depressed children and adolescents was unfavorable (27). A similar conclusion was drawn concerning mirtazapine. It is, however, puzzling that the therapeutic effects of fluoxetine should be quite so different from compounds that are similar pharmacologically. One important issue might be the relevance of regulatory trials of antidepressants to real-world treatment. Placebo-controlled trials in depression... 

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