It’s notoriously hard to treat depression in kids—the antidepressants we rely on to treat adults seem to be less effective and more dangerous when used on younger minds. New research out of Oxford helps confirm this and then some: The researchers’ meta-analysis on how commercially available antidepressants compare with a placebo showed that just one of the 14 antidepressants examined was significantly better than a placebo in treating depression in children and adolescents.
The only drug to pass the test was fluoxetine, sold in the U.S. under the trade name Prozac. It outperformed all other antidepressants in both efficacy and tolerability, a term that researchers use to mean how often patients had to quit the drug due to negative side effects.
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