This is a monocentric, double-blind, parallel, randomized controlled trial conducted in Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) hospital, Islamabad, Pakistan for a total period of 16 weeks. By employing appropriate measures to ensure adequate allocation concealment, thereby minimizing the potential for selection bias in the assignment of participants to treatment groups, the investigators studied if there was any significant difference in in efficacy and tolerability of oral sertraline (50 - 200 mg/day) and oral escitalopram (10 mg/day) given either at night or during the day in the South Asian population for the treatment of moderate to severe major depressive disorder (MDD). 744 South Asian patients with moderate to severe MDD as per the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) scale who had consented to participate in the trial and who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were included in our study. The study was conducted at KRL hospital.
