Citation

Sondergard L, Kvist K, Andersen PK, Kessing LV. Psychiatr. Danub. 2006; 18(Suppl 1): 151.

Affiliation

University Hospital of Copenhagen, Department of Psychiatry, Rigshospitalet, Blegdamsvej 9, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. l.s@rh.dk.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Facultas Universitatis Studiorum Zagrabiensis - Danube Symposion of Psychiatry)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

16964162

Abstract

Aim: The use of antidepressants in Denmark has been substantially increasing during recent years coinciding with a decreasing suicide rate. Methods: We investigated the relation between treatment with antidepressants and suicide on individualized data in a nationwide study in an observational cohort study with linkage of registers of all prescribed antidepressants and recorded suicides in Denmark during a period form 1995 to 1999. Results: A total of 438,625 patients who purchased at least one prescription of antidepressants and 1,073,862 persons from the general population were included in the study. Patients who continued treatment with SSRIs, i.e., who purchased SSRIs twice or more, had a decreased rate of suicide compared with patients who purchased SSRIs once, only (rate ratio, 0.63; 95% confidence interval, 0.56-0.71). Further, the rate of suicide decreased consistently with the number of prescriptions. Similarly, among patients treated with other newer antidepressants than SSRIs, the rate of suicide was decreased compared with the rate for patients who purchased other newer antidepressants once, only (rate ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval, 0.52-0.94). Conclusions: Continued antidepressant treatment with SSRIs or other newer antidepressants is associated with reduced risk of suicide.

Language: en