Comparing the effect of agomelatine and sertraline in treating patients with major depression disorder

This study compared the effect of agomelatine and sertraline in treating patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). This single‑blinded clinical trial was conducted on 52 patients aged 18–65 years with major depression (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition) in Kashan in 2020. The Hamilton Rating Scale was randomly assigned agomelatine (25–50 mg/day) or sertraline (50–200 mg/day) for 8 weeks. The main efficacy outcome was considered a mean change of HAM‑D score from the baseline to the end of therapy. The drugs under study effectively reduced depressive symptoms at all time points. As a frequent analysis showed, changes in Hamilton score were found to be significant in both the groups over time (F = 45.48, P < 0.001). Comparing the two groups showed a significant difference, such that score reduction was higher in the sertraline group (F = 4.45, P = 0.04). However, due to the differences between the two groups in terms of age and sex, the data were re‑analyzed using a linear regression analysis with a random effect model approach. After removing the effect of age and sex as two confounding variables, we observed no significant differences between the two groups. Agomelatine is more effective than sertraline in treating MDD.