Antidepressants linked to premature death risk
study shows antidepressant drugs are associated with a significantly elevated risk of premature death.
The meta-analysis study reviewed previously published research — involving hundreds of thousands of people — and found that patients with no history of cardiovascular disease who took antidepressants had a 33 per cent higher risk of premature death compared to those who didn’t take antidepressants.
“Our findings suggest the drugs are taking more lives than they save,” said Paul Andrews, a McMaster professor and lead author of the study.
The study also showed the same class of patients also had a 14 per cent higher risk of suffering a cardiovascular event, such as stroke or heart attack, than non-users of antidepressants.
The meta-analysis looked at all causes of mortality. While antidepressants play a role in reducing deaths by suicide, for example, the review showed that their use also led to an increased risk of other types of deaths.
The McMaster-led study showed that the antidepressant drugs have an important impact not just on the brain, but on other major organs in the body as well.
Newer antidepressants, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
“Our findings suggest the drugs are taking more lives than they save.” PAUL ANDREWS PROFESSOR, MCMASTER AND LEAD AUTHOR OF THE STUDY
(or SSRIs), block the absorption of the neurotransmitter serotonin. Older antidepressants, known as tricyclics, block the absorption of a different neurotransmitter called norepinephrine.
But those two chemicals are also needed by other organs throughout the body. Both of them, for example, need to be absorbed to activate the process that causes blood to clot.
“So you’re not just influencing brain function, you’re influencing the functioning of lots of other processes in the body,” Andrews said. “I think people would be much less willing to take these drugs if they were aware how little is known about their impact outside of the brain, and that what we do know points to an increased risk of death,” said Marta Maslej, a McMaster researcher and one of the study’s co-authors.
The study’s findings, Andrews suggested, should give doctors and patients pause when considering antidepressant medications, which are commonly prescribed for depression and anxiety.
A 2013 OECD study showed Canada had the third-highest rate of antidepressant use of 23 developed countries, behind Iceland and Australia.
But Andrews believes antidepressant drugs may be over-prescribed by physicians, in part because of a lack of uniformity in classifying depression.
“Our current diagnostic criteria do a very, very poor job of separating out the pathological state from the normal state,” Andrews said.
“We’re not against the use of drugs in general,” he added. “It’s just that we ought to be thinking exactly about how they interact with the body before we use them.”
Ironically, for patients with a history of cardiovascular disease who took antidepressants, the study showed there was no increased risk of death.
Andrews suggested it’s because some types of heart disease involve a hyperactive blood clotting process that is counteracted by the antidepressants.
The study is published in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics.
“People would be much less willing to take these drugs …. PHIL ANDREWS MAC PROFESSOR