Many members of The Truth Squad have refuted the anti-med know nothings who
claim that anti-depressants may be the cause of teenagfe suicide. However,
this sure does blow a big hole in that argument:
Here's an excerpt from a recent article in the San Francisco
Chronicle:
"...the research simply does not support the growing public
impression that taking SSRI antidepressants is tantamount to
picking up a loaded gun. On the contrary, the rate of youth
suicide in 15 countries declined by about 33 percent over
the past 15 years, which coincides with increases in SSRI
prescriptions, according to a recent review of
epidemiological studies by the American College of
Neuropsychopharmacology.
In a 2003 U.S. study, epidemiologists at Columbia University
randomly selected 588 ZIP code regions around the country.
They found that a 1percent increase in the rate of
antidepressant prescriptions correlated with a .23 percent
decrease in suicides per 100,000 adolescents. "
Here's the link for the article:
sfgate.comcgiOpen ↗
bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/03/23/BAGOO-
5PN1A1.DTL
Here's the abstract on Medline:
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2003 Oct;60(10):978-82. Related
Articles, Links
Relationship between antidepressant medication treatment and
suicide in adolescents.
Olfson M, Shaffer D, Marcus SC, Greenberg T.
Department of Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric
Institute, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia
University, New York 10032, USA.
[email hidden]
CONTEXT: A decade of increasing antidepressant medication
treatment for adolescents and corresponding declines in
suicide rates raise the possibility that antidepressants
have helped prevent youth suicide. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate
the relationship between regional changes in antidepressant
medication treatment and suicide in adolescents from 1990 to
2000. DESIGN: Analysis of prescription data from the
nation's largest pharmacy benefit management organization,
national suicide mortality files, regional sociodemographic
data from the 1990 and 2000 US Census, and regional data on
physicians per capita. PARTICIPANTS: Youth aged 10 to 19
years who filled a prescription for antidepressant
medication and same-aged completed suicides from 588 three-
digit ZIP code regions in the United States. MAIN OUTCOME
MEASURES: The relationship between regional change in
group, regional median income, and regional racial
composition. RESULTS: There was a significant adjusted
negative relationship between regional change in
antidepressant medication treatment and suicide during the
study period. A 1% increase in adolescent use of
antidepressants was associated with a decrease of 0.23
suicide per 100 000 adolescents per year (beta
= -.023, t = -5.14, P<.001). In stratified adjusted
= analyses, significant
inverse relationships were present among males (beta = -
.032, t = -3.81, P<.001), youth aged 15 to 19 years (beta =
-.029, t = -3.43, P<.001), and regions with lower family
median incomes (beta = -.023, t = -3.73, P<.001).
CONCLUSIONS: An inverse relationship between regional
change in use of antidepressants and suicide raises the
possibility of a role for using antidepressant treatment in
youth suicide prevention efforts, especially for males,
older adolescents, and adolescents who reside in lower-
income regions.
PMID: 14557142 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]