Do Antidepressants Increase Suicide Risk?

Researchers from the Group Health Cooperative Center for Health Studies in Seattle, Wash, and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass, sought to determine the relationship between antidepressant use and suicidal behaviors using data from a mixed-model prepaid health plan serving approximately 500,000 members in Washington and Idaho. An episode of antidepressant use was defined as an outpatient antidepressant prescription filled by a member with a diagnosis of unipolar major depressive disorder, dysthymia, or depressive disorder NOS who had not filled a prescription for antidepressant medication in the previous 180 days. Using computerized record systems, 82,285 episodes of antidepressant treatment were identified among 65,103 health plan …