Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24424469›Full record

ReviewInternational clinical psychopharmacology2014

A comparative review of escitalopram, paroxetine, and sertraline: Are they all alike?

Connie Sanchez, Elin H Reines, Stuart A Montgomery

Registry-linked trialAbstract readComparative StudyReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in International clinical psychopharmacology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03843463 (Escitalopram and Language Intervention for Subacute Aphasia), which is not on this map. Cited by 106 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
106citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
12.7field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT03843463 phase2recruitingnot on this mapstarted 2021, after this paper: background citation

Escitalopram and Language Intervention for Subacute Aphasia (ELISA)

TypeinterventionalSponsorJohns Hopkins UniversityRan2021 to 2027Enrolled88ConditionsAphasia, StrokeArmsEscitalopram 10mg, Placebo, Computer-delivered naming treatment
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

106 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 267 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  7. The efficacy and cerebral mechanism of intradermal acupuncture for major depressive disorder: a multicenter randomized controlled trial.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025
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  9. Modulation of premotor cortex response to sequence motor learning during escitalopram intake.Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism · 2021
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46 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.

Connie SanchezaExternal Sourcing, Lundbeck Research USA Inc., Paramus, New Jersey, USA bInternational Clinical Research, H. Lundbeck A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark cImperial College School of Medicine, University of London, London, UK.
Elin H Reines
Stuart A Montgomery
Imperial College London · GBLundbeck (Denmark) · DKLundbeck (United States) · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

It is known that newer antidepressants, such as the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), provide advantages in tolerability over antidepressants such as the tricyclics. However, even within the SSRI class, differences in efficacy or tolerability exist between the individual drugs. Among the three most widely prescribed SSRIs are paroxetine, sertraline, and escitalopram. Escitalopram is commonly referred to as an SSRI, but also has well-documented allosteric properties, and thus can be further classed as an allosteric serotonin reuptake inhibitor. All three antidepressants are efficacious compared with placebo, but there is evidence that escitalopram is more effective than a range of other antidepressants. There are no direct data to regard either paroxetine or sertraline as a superior antidepressant. Escitalopram is superior compared with paroxetine, which has a less favorable tolerability profile. Paroxetine is associated with cholinergic muscarinic antagonism and potent inhibition of CYP2D6, and sertraline has moderate drug interaction issues in comparison with escitalopram. Overall, as an allosteric serotonin reuptake inhibitor that is somewhat different from classical SSRIs, escitalopram is the first choice judged by combined efficacy and tolerability, and nonclinical data have offered possible mechanisms through which escitalopram could be more efficacious, based on its interaction with orthosteric and allosteric binding sites at the serotonin transporter.

Indexed as

Evidence-Based MedicineModels, BiologicalAllosteric SiteAnimalsAntidepressive Agents, Second-GenerationCitalopramDepressionDrug InteractionsHumansMajor Depressive DisorderNerve Tissue ProteinsParoxetineSelective Serotonin Reuptake InhibitorsSerotonin Plasma Membrane Transport ProteinsSertralineAntidepressive Agents, Second-GenerationCitalopramNerve Tissue ProteinsParoxetineSelective Serotonin Reuptake InhibitorsSerotonin Plasma Membrane Transport ProteinsSertraline

Identifiers

PMID24424469
PMCPMC4047306
OpenAlexW1986777050

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.