The postmenopausal symptoms impact the quality of life (QoL) of women. Depression and anxiety also diminish QoL. Antidepressants like escitalopram and desvenlafaxine have shown effectiveness in the treatment of depression and anxiety. However, their comparative effect on the QoL of postmenopausal women with depression and anxiety has not been studied in the Indian setup.

Thus a recent randomized, intention-to-treat, open-label trial was conducted in North Indias a tertiary care teaching hospital; that randomized Postmenopausal women attending the psychiatry outpatient department and newly diagnosed with depression and anxiety in two groups to receive either Tab. Escitalopram 10–20 mg or Tab. Desvenlafaxine 50–100 mg. Their QoL was evaluated using the WHOQOL BREF scale at baseline, 3 weeks and 6 weeks. 

Escitalopram showed superiority over desvenlafaxine in improving the overall QoL score of the WHOQOL-BREF scale. Individually, escitalopram showed significant improvement in the scores of the physical health domain, psychological and environmental domains except for the social relationship domain, while Desvenlafaxine showed significant improvement in the scores of all four domains.

Ultimately, Escitalopram was proved superior to desvenlafaxine in improving the overall QoL scores, with both drugs being well tolerated.

 J Mid-life Health 2022;13:80-4