Guest guest Posted January 1, 2006 Report Share Posted January 1, 2006 " The study was financed by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health. Simon, the lead investigator, got a research grant from Lilly and consulting fees from Pfizer. Philip Wang, another researcher, was on the FDA's pediatric advisory committee that recommended that a so-called black box warning on suicide risk be placed on the labels of antidepressants. ........ " http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news? pid=10000087 & sid=a3h5po2f_5Tk & refer=top_world_news Antidepressants Don't Appear to Raise Suicide Risk, Study Shows Jan. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Antidepressants such as Wyeth's Effexor and Eli Lilly & Co.'s Prozac don't appear to pose a higher risk of suicide in the six months after they're prescribed, a study says. The attempted suicide rate found in the months after treatment began was 90 per 100,000 people while the suicide rate was 40 per 100,000 people, the study found. Neither figure represents an increased risk ``after starting antidepressant medication,'' the researchers wrote. ``The overall suicide risk associated with antidepressants is low,'' said researcher Simon, a psychiatrist with the Group Health ative in Seattle, in a telephone interview. ``This conventional wisdom that risk goes up after treatment doesn't seem to be true.'' The study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, reviewed records for 65,103 Group Health ative members in Washington and Idaho who received a total of 82,285 treatments over more than a decade. The link between antidepressants and suicidal thoughts and self- destructive behavior has been at issue since March 2004 when the Food and Drug Administration warned doctors they should closely monitor patients on 10 drugs. In October 2004, the FDA also warned about use of the medicines for children and teenagers. The risk of suicide attempts appeared to be greatest in the month before patients were first treated, according to the study. There was a smaller, significant increase in those attempts in the week after patients received antidepressants, and then a decline over the subsequent period, researchers said. Drugs in Warning The drugs include in the original FDA warning were Effexor, Prozac, Pfizer Inc.'s Zoloft, GlaxoKline Plc's Paxil, Solvay SA's Luvox, Biovail Corp.'s Wellbutrin, Forest Laboratories Inc.'s Celexa and Lexapro, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s Serzone and Akzo Nobel NV's Remeron. Many of these drugs, such as Prozac, are now available in generic form. Prescriptions for newer antidepressants fell more than 16 percent last year to 123 million, compared with 147 million the previous year, according to the IMS Health Inc. Web site. The U.S. market for the antidepressants was $7.5 billion last year. Seligman, director of the FDA Office of Pharmacoepidemiology and Statistical Sciences, said the agency is concerned about drug warnings discouraging product use. ``Like with all drugs, the FDA doesn't want anything over- prescribed or under-prescribed,'' Seligman said in a Dec. 30 telephone interview. The researchers said there is still a possibility that antidepressants may prompt suicidal thoughts or attempts in a group of more vulnerable people. Teenagers, for instance, were only a small portion of the study, with three suicides and 17 serious attempts, the researchers said. There are many studies that show the medicines work in adults, said Wayne Goodman, who was chairman of the FDA panel that reviewed the link between antidepressants and suicidal thoughts and behavior in children and teenagers. `Adolescents More Sensitive' ``It's conceivable that adolescents are more sensitive to side effects,'' said Goodman, who is chairman of psychiatry at the University of Florida. The study was financed by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health. Simon, the lead investigator, got a research grant from Lilly and consulting fees from Pfizer. Philip Wang, another researcher, was on the FDA's pediatric advisory committee that recommended that a so-called black box warning on suicide risk be placed on the labels of antidepressants. The American Journal of Psychiatry is a peer-reviewed publication and the official journal of the American Psychiatric Association Inc. To contact the reporter on this story: Theresa Barry in Washington at tbarry2@.... or Kerry Dooley Young in Washington kdooley@...; Last Updated: January 1, 2006 00:28 EST > > Happy New Year everyone > With the New Year comes more new spin from the drug pushers. > > http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout/2006/01/01/hscout 529949.html > Health > Antidepressants Work and Don't Boost Suicide Risk: Studies > > > SUNDAY, Jan. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Contrary to what has been feared, > the antidepressants known as serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are > initially effective in as many as one-third of depressed patients and > don't appear to increase the risk of suicide, two new studies claim. > > The reports, both of which were funded by the National Institute of > Mental Health, appear in the January issue of the American Journal of > Psychiatry. > > The suicide findings seem to challenge a 2004 advisory by the U.S. > Food and Drug Administration that warned that suicidal behavior may > increase after treatment with SSRIs. However, the study did find that > suicide attempts were higher among teens than adults, a finding borne > out by other research. > > The first report is based on early data from the Sequenced Treatment > Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) trial, the largest study > of its kind. This research looked at the benefits of antidepressants > in " real world " settings. > > " About a third of the patients achieved remission, " said lead > researcher Dr. Madhukar Trivedi, director of the Mood Disorders > Research Program and Clinic at the University of Texas Southwestern > Medical Center, in Dallas. " An additional 10 to 15 percent achieved a > response. " > > The object of the study was to provide physicians with guidelines for > treating depression, Trivedi said. " The goal is to have patients > provided with an adequate dose of medication for an adequate time, " he > explained. " Treatment would be tailored for each individual patient to > get the most benefit from treatment. " > > For the study, researchers looked at the results of prescribing the > SSRI Celexa to 2,876 patients with major depression. These patients > also had other physical and psychological problems. The researchers > found that about a third of the patients had their depression cured > during the first 12 weeks of treatment. > > In addition, another 10 percent to 15 percent of the patients showed a > response to the medication, or reduction of at least half their > symptoms. For patients who did not improve, later phases of the trial > will use other medications or combinations of medications to see what > might help those who did not benefit from the drug used in the first > phase of the trial. > > " These antidepressants in routine clinical care produce outcomes > comparable with what is seen in research settings, " Trivedi said. > " These treatments do work in routine clinical care. There also has to > be careful monitoring of side effects. In addition, you have to > monitor dose and duration of the treatment, based on the patient's > progression. " > > One expert thinks this study will eventually provide guideposts for > treating depression that physicians can follow. > > " This study, when it is all finally published, will give us a very > good idea of how to treat treatment-resistant depression, and what the > next step is after the SSRI fails, " said Dr. L. Dunner, director > of the University of Washington's Center for Anxiety and Depression. > > In the second study, researchers found the risk of suicide attempts > and of successful suicides actually dropped in the weeks following the > start of SSRI therapy. > > " The risk of a serious suicide attempt in people who start taking > antidepressant medication is, fortunately, quite low -- less than one > in 1,000, " said lead author Dr. Greg Simon, a researcher at the Group > Health ative, in Seattle. " The risk actually goes down after > people start antidepressant medication. " > > The study also found no increase in suicide risk with the newer > antidepressants, such as SSRIs, Simon added. " If anything, our data > suggests that with the newer antidepressants there is less risk than > with the older antidepressants, " he said. > > For the study, Simons's team collected data on 65,103 patients who had > prescriptions for antidepressants between 1992 and 2003. > > The researchers found the number of suicide attempts dropped by 60 > percent in adults in the first month after starting treatment. The > suicide rate continued to drop in the succeeding five months. > > Among all the patients, there were 31 suicides in the six months after > starting antidepressant therapy. That rate did not change from one > month after starting treatment or in subsequent months. > > However, teens had more suicide attempts than adults. Simon's group > found that in the first six months of antidepressant treatment, the > suicide rate was 314 attempts per 100,000 in teens, vs. 78 attempts > per 100,000 in adults. For teens and adults, the rate was highest in > the month before treatment and dropped by about 60 percent after > treatment began, the researchers found. > > In its 2004 warning, the FDA said people taking antidepressants should > be closely monitored because of the risk of suicide. > > " People should be closely monitored, but not because these drugs are > especially risky, " Simon said. " The real problem in the treatment of > depression is that people start medicine and the medicine has side > effects or the medicine doesn't work right away, and they get > discouraged and they drop out. " > > Dunner agreed that close monitoring is essential when prescribing > patients antidepressants. " Monitoring depression is very important, " > he said. " Often people come in for treatment when they are starting to > get worse. " > > Monitoring is needed more for side effects from the drugs than to > watch for suicidal behavior, Dunner said. " Suicide is a pretty rare > event, " he said. " It is more important to monitor for side effects and > adherence to the medication. " > > More information > > The American Academy of Family Physicians can tell you more about > antidepressants. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 1, 2006 Report Share Posted January 1, 2006 " The study was financed by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health. Simon, the lead investigator, got a research grant from Lilly and consulting fees from Pfizer. Philip Wang, another researcher, was on the FDA's pediatric advisory committee that recommended that a so-called black box warning on suicide risk be placed on the labels of antidepressants. ........ " http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news? pid=10000087 & sid=a3h5po2f_5Tk & refer=top_world_news Antidepressants Don't Appear to Raise Suicide Risk, Study Shows Jan. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Antidepressants such as Wyeth's Effexor and Eli Lilly & Co.'s Prozac don't appear to pose a higher risk of suicide in the six months after they're prescribed, a study says. The attempted suicide rate found in the months after treatment began was 90 per 100,000 people while the suicide rate was 40 per 100,000 people, the study found. Neither figure represents an increased risk ``after starting antidepressant medication,'' the researchers wrote. ``The overall suicide risk associated with antidepressants is low,'' said researcher Simon, a psychiatrist with the Group Health ative in Seattle, in a telephone interview. ``This conventional wisdom that risk goes up after treatment doesn't seem to be true.'' The study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, reviewed records for 65,103 Group Health ative members in Washington and Idaho who received a total of 82,285 treatments over more than a decade. The link between antidepressants and suicidal thoughts and self- destructive behavior has been at issue since March 2004 when the Food and Drug Administration warned doctors they should closely monitor patients on 10 drugs. In October 2004, the FDA also warned about use of the medicines for children and teenagers. The risk of suicide attempts appeared to be greatest in the month before patients were first treated, according to the study. There was a smaller, significant increase in those attempts in the week after patients received antidepressants, and then a decline over the subsequent period, researchers said. Drugs in Warning The drugs include in the original FDA warning were Effexor, Prozac, Pfizer Inc.'s Zoloft, GlaxoKline Plc's Paxil, Solvay SA's Luvox, Biovail Corp.'s Wellbutrin, Forest Laboratories Inc.'s Celexa and Lexapro, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s Serzone and Akzo Nobel NV's Remeron. Many of these drugs, such as Prozac, are now available in generic form. Prescriptions for newer antidepressants fell more than 16 percent last year to 123 million, compared with 147 million the previous year, according to the IMS Health Inc. Web site. The U.S. market for the antidepressants was $7.5 billion last year. Seligman, director of the FDA Office of Pharmacoepidemiology and Statistical Sciences, said the agency is concerned about drug warnings discouraging product use. ``Like with all drugs, the FDA doesn't want anything over- prescribed or under-prescribed,'' Seligman said in a Dec. 30 telephone interview. The researchers said there is still a possibility that antidepressants may prompt suicidal thoughts or attempts in a group of more vulnerable people. Teenagers, for instance, were only a small portion of the study, with three suicides and 17 serious attempts, the researchers said. There are many studies that show the medicines work in adults, said Wayne Goodman, who was chairman of the FDA panel that reviewed the link between antidepressants and suicidal thoughts and behavior in children and teenagers. `Adolescents More Sensitive' ``It's conceivable that adolescents are more sensitive to side effects,'' said Goodman, who is chairman of psychiatry at the University of Florida. The study was financed by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health. Simon, the lead investigator, got a research grant from Lilly and consulting fees from Pfizer. Philip Wang, another researcher, was on the FDA's pediatric advisory committee that recommended that a so-called black box warning on suicide risk be placed on the labels of antidepressants. The American Journal of Psychiatry is a peer-reviewed publication and the official journal of the American Psychiatric Association Inc. To contact the reporter on this story: Theresa Barry in Washington at tbarry2@.... or Kerry Dooley Young in Washington kdooley@...; Last Updated: January 1, 2006 00:28 EST > > Happy New Year everyone > With the New Year comes more new spin from the drug pushers. > > http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout/2006/01/01/hscout 529949.html > Health > Antidepressants Work and Don't Boost Suicide Risk: Studies > > > SUNDAY, Jan. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Contrary to what has been feared, > the antidepressants known as serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are > initially effective in as many as one-third of depressed patients and > don't appear to increase the risk of suicide, two new studies claim. > > The reports, both of which were funded by the National Institute of > Mental Health, appear in the January issue of the American Journal of > Psychiatry. > > The suicide findings seem to challenge a 2004 advisory by the U.S. > Food and Drug Administration that warned that suicidal behavior may > increase after treatment with SSRIs. However, the study did find that > suicide attempts were higher among teens than adults, a finding borne > out by other research. > > The first report is based on early data from the Sequenced Treatment > Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) trial, the largest study > of its kind. This research looked at the benefits of antidepressants > in " real world " settings. > > " About a third of the patients achieved remission, " said lead > researcher Dr. Madhukar Trivedi, director of the Mood Disorders > Research Program and Clinic at the University of Texas Southwestern > Medical Center, in Dallas. " An additional 10 to 15 percent achieved a > response. " > > The object of the study was to provide physicians with guidelines for > treating depression, Trivedi said. " The goal is to have patients > provided with an adequate dose of medication for an adequate time, " he > explained. " Treatment would be tailored for each individual patient to > get the most benefit from treatment. " > > For the study, researchers looked at the results of prescribing the > SSRI Celexa to 2,876 patients with major depression. These patients > also had other physical and psychological problems. The researchers > found that about a third of the patients had their depression cured > during the first 12 weeks of treatment. > > In addition, another 10 percent to 15 percent of the patients showed a > response to the medication, or reduction of at least half their > symptoms. For patients who did not improve, later phases of the trial > will use other medications or combinations of medications to see what > might help those who did not benefit from the drug used in the first > phase of the trial. > > " These antidepressants in routine clinical care produce outcomes > comparable with what is seen in research settings, " Trivedi said. > " These treatments do work in routine clinical care. There also has to > be careful monitoring of side effects. In addition, you have to > monitor dose and duration of the treatment, based on the patient's > progression. " > > One expert thinks this study will eventually provide guideposts for > treating depression that physicians can follow. > > " This study, when it is all finally published, will give us a very > good idea of how to treat treatment-resistant depression, and what the > next step is after the SSRI fails, " said Dr. L. Dunner, director > of the University of Washington's Center for Anxiety and Depression. > > In the second study, researchers found the risk of suicide attempts > and of successful suicides actually dropped in the weeks following the > start of SSRI therapy. > > " The risk of a serious suicide attempt in people who start taking > antidepressant medication is, fortunately, quite low -- less than one > in 1,000, " said lead author Dr. Greg Simon, a researcher at the Group > Health ative, in Seattle. " The risk actually goes down after > people start antidepressant medication. " > > The study also found no increase in suicide risk with the newer > antidepressants, such as SSRIs, Simon added. " If anything, our data > suggests that with the newer antidepressants there is less risk than > with the older antidepressants, " he said. > > For the study, Simons's team collected data on 65,103 patients who had > prescriptions for antidepressants between 1992 and 2003. > > The researchers found the number of suicide attempts dropped by 60 > percent in adults in the first month after starting treatment. The > suicide rate continued to drop in the succeeding five months. > > Among all the patients, there were 31 suicides in the six months after > starting antidepressant therapy. That rate did not change from one > month after starting treatment or in subsequent months. > > However, teens had more suicide attempts than adults. Simon's group > found that in the first six months of antidepressant treatment, the > suicide rate was 314 attempts per 100,000 in teens, vs. 78 attempts > per 100,000 in adults. For teens and adults, the rate was highest in > the month before treatment and dropped by about 60 percent after > treatment began, the researchers found. > > In its 2004 warning, the FDA said people taking antidepressants should > be closely monitored because of the risk of suicide. > > " People should be closely monitored, but not because these drugs are > especially risky, " Simon said. " The real problem in the treatment of > depression is that people start medicine and the medicine has side > effects or the medicine doesn't work right away, and they get > discouraged and they drop out. " > > Dunner agreed that close monitoring is essential when prescribing > patients antidepressants. " Monitoring depression is very important, " > he said. " Often people come in for treatment when they are starting to > get worse. " > > Monitoring is needed more for side effects from the drugs than to > watch for suicidal behavior, Dunner said. " Suicide is a pretty rare > event, " he said. " It is more important to monitor for side effects and > adherence to the medication. " > > More information > > The American Academy of Family Physicians can tell you more about > antidepressants. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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