« Researchers explore health benefits of friendship | Main | Missouri Senate passes bill to require insurance coverage for autism diagnosis, treatment »
April 29, 2009
Study indicates restrictions on teen use of antidepressants may have no measurable impact on suicide rates
BBC News (4/23, Wilkinson) reported that, according to a study published online Apr. 14 in the journal Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, "restrictions on teenagers' use of antidepressants have had no measurable impact on suicide rates."
For the study, researchers from the UK's University of Bristol analyzed "suicide rates among 15 to 19-year-olds in 22 countries from 1990 to 2006 and found no change in the wake of the restrictions."
The BBC explained that "in 2003, regulators warned against use of the drugs in the under-18s after concerns from clinical trials that some patients may become suicidal." At that time, "the expert committee put together to assess the safety of the drugs said...of the restrictions that the harmful effects of most SSRI antidepressants outweighed the benefits in young people."
The committee recommended that "only fluoxetine (Prozac) should be used, and only then in severe cases." Since then, "some mental-health experts have raised concerns that limits on prescribing antidepressants may have led to increased levels of untreated depression."
Posted by admin at April 29, 2009 05:42 PM