The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 280 No 7498 p464
19 April 2008

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Antidepressants might contribute less than thought to suicide rate

Antidepressants may be contributing less to the prevention of suicide than previously believed, according to the results of a joint US/Danish study published this week.

Researchers conclude that use of antidepressants only accounts for a reduction of around 10 per cent in the number of suicides in people aged over 50 years.

The study was based on data from two million people aged over 50 years who were living in Denmark between 1996 and 2000.

The researchers analysed the number who committed suicide during this four-year period and whether or not they were taking antidepressants at the time of their death.

One in five of those who committed suicide were taking antidepressants when they died, the researchers discovered.

And while suicide rates for men overall fell by almost 10 per 100,000, the fall was less than one per 100,000 for those on antidepressants.

For older women the researchers found that only 0.4 per cent of the 3.3 per 100,000 reduction in suicide rates involved women on antidepressants. The study is published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (2008;62:448).

The researchers point out that the results of the study throw a question mark over previous research in Scandinavia and the US that suggested that a five-fold increase in the use of antidepressants could bring a 25 per cent reduction in suicide rates.