Citation

Evid. Based Healthc. Public Health 2005; 9(1): 63-64.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ehbc.2004.11.018

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Question: Do the antidepressants amitryptyline, fluoxetine or paroxetine increase the risk of suicide compared with dothiepin in people with depression? Study design: Case-control study. Main results: At 6 years, 555 people had first-time suicidal ideation or had attempted suicide (female: 65%; aged 10 to 19 years: 12%; aged 20 to 49 years: 75%). A first-time, non-fatal suicide attempt was four-times more likely in people starting antidepressants less than 10 days before the attempt, compared with people who started taking them more than 90 days before the attempt (see Results table 1). Suicide was 38-times more likely to occur in people starting antidepressants within 10 days before suicide, compared with people who had started taking them more than 90 days before suicide (95% CI 6.2 to 231.0). Most of the suicide cases were male (76%). Risk of suicidal behaviour was similar for all four antidepressants (see Results table 2). There was no evidence of an increased risk of suicidal behaviour in people who started taking antidepressants more than a month before their first non-fatal suicide attempt but then stopped taking them (data not shown). Authors' conclusions: Suicidal behaviour significantly increases within the first 10 days of taking antidepressants and remains high for the first month in people with depression. There are no significant differences in risk of suicidal behaviour among amitryptyline, fluoxetine, paroxetine and dothiepin. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

adolescent; adult; human; Depression; Suicide; child; female; male; aged; depression; suicide attempt; Antidepressants; suicidal behavior; risk assessment; article; major clinical study; controlled study; antidepressant agent; amitriptyline; fluoxetine; paroxetine; priority journal; statistical significance; dosulepin; fatality; evidence based medicine; case control study; Case-control study; Paroxetine; Fluoxetine; Dothiepin; confidence interval; Amitryptyline; Inhibitors; Serotonin reuptake; Tricyclics