Study Gauges Suicidal Behavior In
Antidepressant Treatment
By CHRISTOPHER WINDHAM
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
July 21, 2004; Page D4
It has long been
recommended that depressed patients be monitored for suicidal behavior,
especially in the early days of treatment. But as the use of
antidepressants has grown more widespread, and as nonpsychiatric doctors
such as internists or general practitioners have become major
prescribers, some doctors and health officials have worried that
patients needed more monitoring. The Food and Drug Administration
earlier this year issued an advisory asking makers of 10 drugs to add or
strengthen suicide-related warnings on their labels.
"People had some sense
about" patient monitoring, says Susan Jick, co-author of the study and
co-director of the Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program. "But
it hasn't been quantified."
To some psychiatrists,
the risk of suicidal behavior in the early days of treatment signifies
that the drugs aren't immediately effective or only partially effective.
Others hypothesize that antidepressants may relieve the enervation of
depression before they lift the feeling of hopelessness, leaving a
period when patients have enough energy to act out on suicidal thoughts.
The study suggests that
patients taking SSRIs don't have a higher risk of suicidal behavior than
those taking the older tricyclic antidepressants.
Moreover, the study
suggested that adolescents aged 10-19 aren't more likely than adults to
experience suicidal behavior after taking antidepressants. But the
limited number of youth in the study caused the researchers to hedge
their conclusions about children.
The use of SSRIs in
youth has been the subject of controversy because of revelations that
drug companies frequently didn't publish data that may have suggested a
link between the drugs and suicidal behavior in youth. Last month, New
York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sued GlaxoSmithKline PLC, of London,
for not publishing negative studies about Paxil and children.
The study didn't have
any drug-company funding. However, the researchers consulted Glaxo on a
study the company is conducting on antidepressants and suicidal-behavior
risk, Dr. Jick said. Glaxo didn't immediately respond to phone calls
seeking comment.
Write to Christopher
Windham at christopher.windham@wsj.com1
|
|
URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109034682722368662,00.html
|
|
|
Hyperlinks in this Article:
(1) mailto:christopher.windham@wsj.com |
