SSRIs do not increase teen suicide risk: study - ■ Gemma Collins - 6Minutes
Antidepressants do not increase the risk of suicide among adolescents, a study suggests.
An analysis of data from 41 clinical trials involving more than 9,000 adults and adolescents found that there was no evidence of an increased suicide risk in young people taking fluoxetine.
The study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry also found that the adults who were taking either fluoxetine or venlafaxine had a decreased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviours.
And in all age groups, severity of depression improved with medication and was significantly related to suicide ideation or behaviour, according to the government-funded study.
The authors found that among the 700 young patients receiving SSRIs, there was a 50% decrease in the probability of suicidal thoughts or behaviour after eight weeks, compared to 61% among control patients.
Young patients receiving fluoxitine decreased their depressive symptoms more quickly than patients receiving placebo.
“Despite a strong association between depression severity and suicide risk in youths, treatment with fluoxetine was not found to be related to suicide risk when compared with placebo”, the authors conclude.
However the authors do point out that their findings are limited to fluoxetine only.
