As Antidepressant Warnings Toughened, Teen Suicide Attempts Rose: Study
As Antidepressant Warnings Toughened, Teen Suicide Attempts Rose: Study
Overreaction to FDA warning may have led to undertreatment of depression, experts say
WEDNESDAY, June 18, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Teen suicide attempts rose nearly 22 percent after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned about dangers of antidepressants, a new study finds.
In 2003, the FDA mandated a "black box" warning -- the most serious type of warning in prescription drug labeling -- on popular antidepressant medications called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), signaling a possible risk of suicidal thoughts among children and teens. Examples of these drugs include Celexa, Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft.
Following the warnings, antidepressant prescriptions for young people fell by more than a fifth. At the same time, suicide attempts rose, possibly because depression was being undertreated, according to background information in the study.
"We found a substantial reduction in use of antidepressants in youth, and also in adults -- who were not targeted by the warning," said lead author Christine Lu, an instructor in population medicine at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute in Boston.
Lu attributes the drop in prescriptions to the FDA's warning and resulting media coverage. "To a certain extent, the FDA's black box warning was legitimate, but the media emphasis was really on suicide without noting the potential risk of undertreatment of depression. Because of that, there has been an overreaction, and that overreaction has sent alarming messages to parents and young people," she said.
Although the initial studies showing an increased risk of suicide in teens taking antidepressants prompted the black box warnings, researchers never proved that the medications were the cause of the increased risk of suicide, only that there was a link.
Likewise, though the current research finds a strong association between the uptick in suicides and the drop in antidepressant use, Lu and her colleagues weren't able to definitively show that a decrease in antidepressant prescriptions was directly responsible for the recent increase in suicide attempts.
Antidepressant use dropped more than 20 percent after the warnings were issued in young adults. For adults -- who weren't included in the warnings -- antidepressant use went down by more than 14 percent, according to the study.
Antidepressant Warnings & Teen Suicide Attempts
Overreaction to FDA warning may have led to undertreatment of depression, experts say
WEDNESDAY, June 18, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Teen suicide attempts rose nearly 22 percent after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned about dangers of antidepressants, a new study finds.
In 2003, the FDA mandated a "black box" warning -- the most serious type of warning in prescription drug labeling -- on popular antidepressant medications called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), signaling a possible risk of suicidal thoughts among children and teens. Examples of these drugs include Celexa, Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft.
Following the warnings, antidepressant prescriptions for young people fell by more than a fifth. At the same time, suicide attempts rose, possibly because depression was being undertreated, according to background information in the study.
"We found a substantial reduction in use of antidepressants in youth, and also in adults -- who were not targeted by the warning," said lead author Christine Lu, an instructor in population medicine at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute in Boston.
Lu attributes the drop in prescriptions to the FDA's warning and resulting media coverage. "To a certain extent, the FDA's black box warning was legitimate, but the media emphasis was really on suicide without noting the potential risk of undertreatment of depression. Because of that, there has been an overreaction, and that overreaction has sent alarming messages to parents and young people," she said.
Although the initial studies showing an increased risk of suicide in teens taking antidepressants prompted the black box warnings, researchers never proved that the medications were the cause of the increased risk of suicide, only that there was a link.
Likewise, though the current research finds a strong association between the uptick in suicides and the drop in antidepressant use, Lu and her colleagues weren't able to definitively show that a decrease in antidepressant prescriptions was directly responsible for the recent increase in suicide attempts.
Antidepressant use dropped more than 20 percent after the warnings were issued in young adults. For adults -- who weren't included in the warnings -- antidepressant use went down by more than 14 percent, according to the study.
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