CRD Summary: This review, which evaluated the efficacy of venlafaxine compared to selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), concluded that venlafaxine was not clinically superior. The authors' conclusions were appropriate and likely to be reliable, although the authors were unable to investigate whether the effectiveness of the treatments varied with severity of depression.

CRD Commentary: This review had clearly stated inclusion criteria. Several relevant sources were used to identify relevant studies. It was unclear whether studies in all languages were included. Appropriate methods were used to minimise error and bias in data extraction and quality assessment, but it was unclear whether a similar approach was used for study selection. A quantitative pooling was appropriate and statistical heterogeneity was assessed. In addition, the robustness of the findings were investigated through the use of subgroup analyses. The authors' conclusions seemed appropriate given the evidence available and the conclusions were likely to be reliable. However, the authors highlighted that although there was variability between studies in the severity of depression at baseline it was not possible to investigate this in the analysis, and the overall result may obscure an important difference between the drugs in different population groups.