Gutsmiedl K, et al. - As depression is recognized as one of the principal causes of the global burden of disease, and it has especially negative consequences for elderly patients, researchers here examined the response rates of elderly patients to antidepressants, the most frequently used treatment, and investigated the determinants of antidepressants response in this population via performing the first single-group meta-analysis. They sought for randomized controlled trials on antidepressants in the elderly with major depressive disorder above 65 years (last search: December 2017) in multiple databases and identified 44 studies with a total of 6,373 participants receiving antidepressants for inclusion. A 50% improvement on validated rating scales defined the response. Outcomes suggest that nearly 50% of the elderly with major depressive disorder treated with antidepressants had an improvement in symptoms. As per subgroup and meta-regression analyses, a better response to treatment was observed for patients in antidepressant-controlled trials compared with placebo-controlled trials.