TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2006//
TI  - Continued antidepressant treatment and suicide in patients with depressive disorder
JO  - Psychiatria Danubina
A1  - Sondergard, Lars
A1  - Kvist, K.
A1  - Lopez, Ana Garcia
A1  - Andersen, Per Kragh
A1  - Kessing, Lars Vedel
SP  - 80
EP  - 80
VL  - 18
IS  - Suppl 1
N2  - 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.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0353-5053
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -