Citation

Sondergard L, Kvist K, Lopez AG, Andersen PK, Kessing LV. Psychiatr. Danub. 2006; 18(Suppl 1): 80.

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

16963993

Abstract

Background: As in many developed countries, the use of antidepressants in Denmark has been substantially increasing during recent years coinciding with a decreasing suicide rate. Methods: In a nationwide observational cohort study with linkage of registers of all prescribed antidepressants and recorded suicides in Denmark during a period from 1995 to 2000 we investigated the relation between continued treatment with antidepressants and suicide in a population of all patients discharged from hospital psychiatry with a diagnosis of depressive disorder. Results: Patients discharged from hospital psychiatry with a diagnosis of depressive disorder had a highly increased rate of suicide. Patients who continued treatment with antidepressants had a decreased rate of suicide compared with patients who purchased antidepressants once, only (rate ratio: 0.31, 95% confidence interval: 0.26 - 0.36). Further, the rate of suicide decreased consistently with the number of prescriptions. Limitations: The effect of time on the risk of suicide cannot be separated from the effect of treatment. Conclusions: On individualized data from a cohort with a known history of depressive disorder, continued antidepressant treatment was associated with reduced risk of suicide. The results are compatible with the suggestion that maintenance treatment with antidepressants is associated with a protective effect against suicide among patients with depressive disorder.

Language: en