International Journal of Advances in Medicine | April 2020 | Vol 7 | Issue 4 Page 643 International Journal of Advances in Medicine Arya N et al. Int J Adv Med. 2020 Apr;7(4):643-649 http://www.ijmedicine.com pISSN 2349-3925 | eISSN 2349-3933 Original Research Article A comparative prospective open label randomized controlled 8 week study in patients of depression treated with vilazodone and sertraline Nirmal Arya 1 , Anuradha Nischal 1 *, Anil Nischal 2 , Manu Agarwal 2 INTRODUCTION Depression is a major public health problem with significant morbidity and disability as well as socioeconomic impact. Approximately 17% of the population is affected with depression during their life time. 1 The most commonly prescribed antidepressants are the SSRIs and SNRIs due to their lesser toxicity and improved safety profile than TCAs. 2 Hence antidepressant with better efficacy and lower side effects are required for treatment. 3 Vilazodone is a novel SSRI having 5HT1A receptor partial agonistic activity. It was approved in 2011 by US FDA for the treatment of major depressive disorders. 4,5 Sertraline is a well-established SSRI and widely used for the treatment of major depressive disorder, common adverse effects are gastrointestinal disturbances, anxiety, sexual dysfunction and impaired cognition. 1 Department of Pharmacology, 2 Department of Psychiatry, King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India Received: 31 January 2020 Revised: 13 February 2020 Accepted: 28 February 2020 *Correspondence: Dr. Anuradha Nischal, E-mail: nischal.anuradha@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Background: Depression is a mood disorder treated with various antidepressant such as SSRIs due to lesser toxicity and improved safety profile. Methods: This was an eight week randomised active controlled parallel group study. 54 patients were allocated in two group. Group A received vilazodone while group B received sertraline. Assessment done at baseline, 2, 4 and 8 weeks on the basis of clinical efficacy, sexual dysfunction, side effects and weight gain using Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A), Arizona Sexual Experience Scale (ASEX) and UKU Side Effect Rating Scale. Results: HAM-D score of group A was 18.78±1.78 and 7.67±1.66 while in group B was 19.04±2.12 and 8.15±1.77 at baseline and 8 weeks respectively. HAM-A score of group A was 15.44±1.50 and 6.63±1.39 while in group B was 15.26±1.83 and 7.07±1.14 at baseline and 8 weeks. ASEX total score of group A was 15.63±1.28 and 14.63±1.33 while group B was 15.52±1.37 and 16.41±1.12 at baseline and 8 weeks. ASEX desire score of group A was 9.63±0.93 and 8.67±0.88 while of group B was 9.59±0.93 and 10.07±0.92 at baseline and 8 weeks. UKU side effect rating at 2 and 8 weeks of group A was 0.22±0.42, 1.04±0.76 while in group B was 0.37±0.49, 1.89±0.85. Conclusions: Vilazodone and Sertraline are equally efficacious in treatment of depression and associated anxiety. When side effect profile were compared Vilazodone is found superior to Sertraline. Keywords: Anxiety, Depression, Sertraline, Sexual dysfunction, Vilazodone DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2349-3933.ijam20201116