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New study suggests antidepressants save lives
June 13, 2006Findings show US suicide rate drops as prescriptions rise
A just published UCLA study suggests that the use of antidepressants to treat depression has saved thousands of lives, despite the concern about a possible link between suicide risk and the class of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI).
The lead author of the study is Dr. Julio Licinio, the new chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine. Licinio conducted the study at UCLA while he was the director of the Center for Pharmacogenomics and Clinical Pharmacology at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.
Published in the June 2006 edition of the peer-reviewed journal PLoS Medicine, the study analyzes federal data on overall suicide rates since the early 1960s and sales of the SSRI fluoxetine, or Prozac, in the United States since the antidepressant's introduction in 1988 through 2002.
The data show the U.S. suicide rate held fairly steady for 15 years prior to the introduction of fluoxetine, then dropped steadily over 14 years as sales of the antidepressant rose. The research team found the strongest effect among women.
Mathematical modeling of probable suicide rates from 1988 to 2002, based on pre-1988 data, suggests a cumulative decrease in expected suicide mortality of 33,600 people since the introduction of the antidepressant.
"Our findings certainly suggest that the introduction of SSRIs has contributed to reduction of suicide rates in the United States," Licinio said. "However, the findings do not preclude the possibility of increased risk of suicide among small populations of individuals."
The Food and Drug Administration introduced "black box warnings" on the most popular SSRIs in 2004 amid rising concerns in the United States and United Kingdom concerning the relationship between suicide and antidepressant use in children and adults.
A key unanswered question involves whether antidepressants increase suicide over and above the underlying disorder, such as major depression.
"Much of the psychiatric community fears that the absence of treatment may prove more harmful to depressed individuals than the effects of the drugs themselves," Licinio said. "Most people who commit suicide suffer from untreated depression. Our goal is to explore a possible SSRI suicide link while ensuring that effective treatment and drug development for depression is not halted without cause."
The study examined age-adjusted suicide rate data from the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Census Bureau from the early 1960s until 2002. Data show suicide rates fluctuated between 12.2 and 13.7 per 100,000 people for the entire U.S. population until 1988. Since then, suicide rates have gradually declined, with the lowest rate at 10.4 per 100,000 in 2000. The decline is significantly associated with increased numbers of fluoxetine prescriptions dispensed, from 2.47 million in 1988 to 33.32 million in 2002.
Major depressive disorder affects approximately 10 percent of American men and 20 percent of women over their lifetimes. Because the prevalence is so high and treatment lasts several months or years, antidepressant medications are the most common form of treatment. Fluoxetine is the most widely prescribed antidepressant medication in the world and the only antidepressant that is FDA-approved for treatment of depression in children.
University of California—Los Angeles
Published in the June 2006 edition of the peer-reviewed journal PLoS Medicine, the study analyzes federal data on overall suicide rates since the early 1960s and sales of the SSRI fluoxetine, or Prozac, in the United States since the antidepressant's introduction in 1988 through 2002.
The data show the U.S. suicide rate held fairly steady for 15 years prior to the introduction of fluoxetine, then dropped steadily over 14 years as sales of the antidepressant rose. The research team found the strongest effect among women.
Mathematical modeling of probable suicide rates from 1988 to 2002, based on pre-1988 data, suggests a cumulative decrease in expected suicide mortality of 33,600 people since the introduction of the antidepressant.
"Our findings certainly suggest that the introduction of SSRIs has contributed to reduction of suicide rates in the United States," Licinio said. "However, the findings do not preclude the possibility of increased risk of suicide among small populations of individuals."
The Food and Drug Administration introduced "black box warnings" on the most popular SSRIs in 2004 amid rising concerns in the United States and United Kingdom concerning the relationship between suicide and antidepressant use in children and adults.
A key unanswered question involves whether antidepressants increase suicide over and above the underlying disorder, such as major depression.
"Much of the psychiatric community fears that the absence of treatment may prove more harmful to depressed individuals than the effects of the drugs themselves," Licinio said. "Most people who commit suicide suffer from untreated depression. Our goal is to explore a possible SSRI suicide link while ensuring that effective treatment and drug development for depression is not halted without cause."
The study examined age-adjusted suicide rate data from the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Census Bureau from the early 1960s until 2002. Data show suicide rates fluctuated between 12.2 and 13.7 per 100,000 people for the entire U.S. population until 1988. Since then, suicide rates have gradually declined, with the lowest rate at 10.4 per 100,000 in 2000. The decline is significantly associated with increased numbers of fluoxetine prescriptions dispensed, from 2.47 million in 1988 to 33.32 million in 2002.
Major depressive disorder affects approximately 10 percent of American men and 20 percent of women over their lifetimes. Because the prevalence is so high and treatment lasts several months or years, antidepressant medications are the most common form of treatment. Fluoxetine is the most widely prescribed antidepressant medication in the world and the only antidepressant that is FDA-approved for treatment of depression in children.
University of California—Los Angeles
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Sex differences seen in response to common antidepressant
Women with depression may be much more likely than men to get relief from a commonly used, inexpensive antidepressant drug, a new national study finds. But many members of both sexes may find that it helps ease their depression symptoms.
Antidepressants in suicide prevention
Antidepressants are the cornerstone of treatment of depressive disorders in health care. Their efficacy in treating depression is undisputable, although it leaves room for improvement.
Potential new targets for antidepressant medications
The news about antidepressant medications over the past several years has been mixed. The bad news from large multicenter studies such as STAR*D is that current antidepressant medications are effective, but not as effective as one might hope. Thus, there is a significant need for new treatment mechanisms for depression.
Antidepressants may impair driving ability, new research finds
People taking prescription antidepressants appear to drive worse than people who aren't taking such drugs, and depressed people on antidepressants have even more trouble concentrating and reacting behind the wheel.
Study finds connections between genetics, brain activity and preference
A team of researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has used brain imaging, genetics and experimental psychology techniques to identify a connection between brain reward circuitry, a behavioral measurement of preference and a gene variant that appears to influence both.
Voluntary exercise does not appear to alleviate anxiety and depression
Voluntary physical activity does not appear to cause a reduction in anxiety and depression, but exercise and mood may be associated through a common genetic factor, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
N.Y. Research Team Discovers How Antidepressants and Cocaine Interact with Brain Cell Targets
In a first, scientists from Weill Cornell Medical College and Columbia University Medical Center have described the specifics of how brain cells process antidepressant drugs, cocaine and amphetamines. These novel findings could prove useful in the development of more targeted medication therapies for a host of psychiatric diseases, most notably in the area of addiction.
Use of sildenafil associated with improvement in antidepressant-related sexual dysfunction in women
Women with sexual dysfunction caused by the use of antidepressants experienced a reduction in adverse sexual effects with use of sildenafil, commonly known as the erectile dysfunction medication Viagra.
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