un articolo ricevuto da Francesco Troccoli
"First World" 07/21/2004
Study looks at suicide risk in antidepressants
by Candace Hoffmann
A study appearing in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association finds that patients taking either selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or older tricyclic drugs for depression face a similar risk of suicide, The New York Times and other news sources report.
Patients in the study, which was conducted by Boston University School of Medicine, took one of four antidepressants: Eli Lilly's Prozac, GlaxoSmithKline's Paxil, amitriptyline or dothiepin. The researchers examined the records of nearly 160,000 British patients who had been treated for depression between 1993 and 1999. The researchers found that suicidal behaviour was most likely to occur in the first month of treatment, as reported in Yahoo Finance.
"We think the most likely explanation for this finding is that antidepressant treatment may not be immediately effective, so there is a higher risk of suicidal behaviour in patients newly diagnosed and treated than in those who have been treated for a longer time," The Los Angeles Times quotes the authors as writing in the journal.
The study noted in their conclusion that there is "no substantial difference in effect of the four drugs on people aged 10 to 19 years [though] some important difference in effect cannot be ruled out based on this study," as reported in Yahoo Finance.
The study should serve to reassure psychiatrists and other physicians concerned about possible differences in risks between the newer and older drugs, medical experts said, according to The New York Times. However, they also noted that the research confirms the importance of watching patients closely when they first begin treatment for their depression.
Nonetheless, the study did not examine whether antidepressants make depressed patients more suicidal, The New York Times reports. "This study does not speak at all to taking the drugs versus not taking them," Dr. Jeffrey A. Lieberman, a professor of psychiatry is quoted as saying.
