Antidepressant Safety Debate May Include Adult Patients

The yearlong debate over whether antidepressant drugs increase the risk of suicide in some children may soon widen to include adults, as English and Canadian scientists are reporting findings from three new analyses of suicide risk in people over age 18 who have taken the medications.

The new findings are mixed, and apparently contradictory, and likely to encourage both patient advocates who believe that antidepressants like Prozac have hidden dangers, and manufacturers who insist that the medications are safe, experts said.

One of the reports, an analysis of data on antidepressants from previous studies, found that adults taking the drugs were twice as likely to attempt suicide as those receiving a dummy pill or other treatments, but no more likely to complete the act.

The two other reports found no significant link between the medications and suicide. Suicide attempts occurred in less than 0.5 percent of the more than 200,000 people included in the three studies.

All three papers appeared yesterday in the online version of The British Medical Journal.

Courtesy of the New Yor Times 2/18/05