Is escitalopram more efficacious than citalopram?

Placebo-controlled studies show that escitalopram is effective in the treatment of depression and that it has potential as a first-line antidepressant in primary care. It has a better effect per mg, than citalopram. Moreover, clinical trials and analyses have demonstrated consistently better efficacy for escitalopram compared to citalopram at comparable doses (ref.1), (ref.2) and (ref.3).

Escitalopram had an increasing therapeutic effect with increasing baseline severity of depression versus citalopram (ref.4).

 

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References:

1. Lepola et al. 2003 and 2004

2. Gorman 2002

3. Moore et al. 2005

4. Lam et al. 2006