New health alert over antidepressants as study finds a ‘rare but serious’ risk of suicide for patients on pills

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7176689/New-study-finds-rare-risk-suicide-patients-antidepressants.html

Taking antidepressants raises the risk of suicide, a study suggests.

Experts last night warned that patients should be told of the dangers before they start taking the pills.

The research found depressed people on the drugs were more than twice as likely to attempt suicide as similar patients who were not taking them.

Some seven million adults in England took the drugs in 2016/17. The researchers believe that for some, the chemicals in the pills can trigger severe agitation, restlessness and even psychotic episodes [File photo]

Study leader Dr Michael Hengartner, of Zurich University in Switzerland, said: ‘We can be confident that these drugs are producing an excess rate of suicides, beyond the depression itself.

‘There is no doubt that this must be a response to the pharmacological effect of the drugs themselves.’

Although the increased risk appears stark, in real terms the researchers calculated only 77 extra suicides per 100,000 patients taking the pills.

Taking antidepressants raises the risk of suicide, a study suggests. Experts last night warned that patients should be told of the dangers before they start taking the pills [File photo]

Scientists acknowledge that for many people, antidepressants are a lifeline.

But with more patients in Britain taking them than those in almost every other Western country, many doctors believe millions are being put at risk.

Dr Hengartner added: ‘I’m not saying no one should be given antidepressants, but doctors should be much more conservative about how they use them. One in six adults being given antidepressants like in the UK – that is alarming.

‘Patients should be informed of the risks and they should be monitored.’

The study found that people prescribed antidepressants were 2.5 times more likely to attempt suicide than depressed people taking placebo pills.

Last month, the Royal College of Psychiatrists acknowledged for the first time that coming off the pills can cause severe side effects lasting months – with the worst-hit suffering nausea, anxiety and insomnia [File photo]

The research, published in the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, combined the results of 14 studies involving nearly 32,000 people taking a variety of antidepressants.

The authors stressed that the real-terms rise in risk was small, calculating that for every 100,000 taking the pills, there would be an extra 413 suicide attempts and an extra 77 suicides. But in England, this could add up to thousands of extra suicides.

The highest risk was found to occur in the first four weeks after the treatment begins.