A multicentre open trial of fluoxetine in depressed out-patients in Belgium

Fluoxetine hydrochloride (ProzacR, Lilly), a new antidepressant that specifically inhibits serotonin reuptake was evaluated in an open comparative trial performed in 8 Belgian centres over a period of 9 months. Seventy-six outpatients were enrolled of which 66 were evaluable. Thirty-six patients received an 8 week fluoxetine treatment and 31 patients received tricyclic antidepressants (TCA). Patients from both treatment groups were evaluated for safety and the fluoxetine treated group of patients was assessed for efficacy. On the Hamilton Depression Scale, the mean score dropped from 26.4 to 7.0 after 8 weeks (p less than 0.0001). The Clinical and Patient's Global Impression scores showed a similar evolution. Patients treated with fluoxetine tended to report fewer side-effects than the TCA treated group. Therefore fluoxetine can be regarded as an efficient antidepressant which is at least as well tolerated as TCAs.