CONTACT US: Contact info
|
Citation |
Isacsson G, Reutfors J, Papadopoulos FC, Osby U, Ahlner J. Acta Psychiatr. Scand. 2010; 122(6): 454-460. |
|
Affiliation |
Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Division of Psychiatry, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. |
|
Copyright |
(Copyright © 2010, John Wiley and Sons) |
|
DOI |
|
PMID |
20384599 |
|
Abstract |
Objective: Ecological studies have demonstrated a substantial decrease in suicide in parallel with an increasing use of antidepressants. To investigate on the individual level the hypothesis that antidepressant medication was a causal factor. Method: Data on the toxicological detection of antidepressants in 18 922 suicides in Sweden 1992-2003 were linked to registers of psychiatric hospitalization as well as registers with sociodemographic data. Results: The probability for the toxicological detection of an antidepressant was lowest in the non-suicide controls, higher in suicides, and even higher in suicides that had been psychiatric in-patients but excluding those who had been in-patients for the treatment of depression. Conclusion: The finding that in-patient care for depression did not increase the probability of the detection of antidepressants in suicides is difficult to explain other than by the assumption that a substantial number of depressed individuals were saved from suicide by postdischarge treatment with antidepressant medication. Language: en |