Antidepressant shows increase in suicidal thoughts

A commonly-used antidepressant has been found to cause a 10-fold increase in suicidal thoughts in men when compared to its competitor, a new study has revealed.

Men who took nortriptyline, a tricyclic antidepressant, were almost 10 times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than those who took its competitor, escitalopram, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI).

"Suicidal thoughts and behaviours during antidepressant treatment have prompted warnings by regulatory bodies,” explained Dr Nader Perroud from the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, who led the research.

“The aim of our study was to investigate the emergence and worsening of suicidal thoughts during treatment with two different types of antidepressant,” he continued.

The study was carried out on 811 individuals with moderate to severe depression. While an overall trend in reduction of suicidal thoughts was observed, men who took nortriptyline were found to have a 9.8-fold increase in emerging suicidal thoughts and a 2.4-fold increase in worsening suicidal thoughts compared to those who took escitalopram.

"The study refutes the idea that newer antidepressants such as the SSRIs are worse than older medications in terms of increasing suicidal thoughts,” said Dr Perroud.

The researchers stressed that more studies need to be done on the effects of antidepressants.

The findings were published in BMC Medicine.

[Posted: Thu 15/10/2009]