New research shows antidepressants substantially increase the risk of heart-related sudden death. Citizens Commission on Human Rights calls on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to update medication guides to reflect this risk.
A new study finds that antidepressant use substantially increases the risk of sudden cardiac death. Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) calls on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to update antidepressants prescribing information and medication guides to fully disclose this increased risk.
At a recent scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology, researchers presented study findings showing that those who use antidepressants have an increased risk of sudden cardiac death, compared with the general population with no history of antidepressant use. The risk varied with age and the length of time antidepressants were used.
The researchers examined all deaths in Denmark in 2010, identifying those whose death certificates or autopsy reports indicated sudden cardiac death. They further identified those who filled a prescription for an antidepressant at least twice in a year during the 12-year period prior to 2010.
They found that compared with the general population not using antidepressants, those using antidepressants for 1 to 5 years increased their risk of cardiac sudden death by 56%. Those using the drugs for 6 years or more had a 2.2 times greater risk.
“Exposure time to antidepressants was associated with a higher risk of sudden cardiac death, and linked to how long the person had been exposed to antidepressants,” according to study co-author Dr. Jasmin Mujkanovic at Rigshospitlet Hjertecentret in Copenhagen, as quoted in a European Society of Cardiology press release.
“Those exposed [to antidepressants] for 6 years or more were at even more increased risk than those exposed for 1 to 5 years, when compared with people unexposed to antidepressants in the general population,” he continued.
Among 30- to 39-year-olds, those who used antidepressants for 1-5 years had a three times greater risk of sudden cardiac death than non-users in the general population, a risk that rose to five times higher at 6 or more years of use.
For 50- to 59-year-olds, antidepressant use for 1 to 5 years doubled their risk of sudden cardiac death, while 6 or more years of use had a four times higher risk, compared with non-users in the general population.
Only 18- to 29-year-olds had no statistically significant association with a higher risk of sudden cardiac death. The study was also published in Heart, the journal of the British Cardiovascular Society.
Another recent study investigated the effect of depression and antidepressants on seven cardiovascular conditions: arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation (AFib), coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, heart failure, stroke, and cardiovascular diseases as a group.
They found that the use of antidepressants increased the risk of atrial fibrillation and stroke by 44% each; arrhythmias by 28%; coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, and heart failure by 16% each; and overall cardiovascular disease by 35%. They concluded that the association of depression with these cardiovascular diseases is primarily accounted for by depressed patients’ use of antidepressants, not from depression itself.
“We call on the FDA to require antidepressant manufacturers to update the information provided to prescribers and patients to warn of the potential risks of sudden cardiac death and other life-threatening cardiovascular events from the use of these drugs,” said Anne Goedeke, president of the CCHR National Affairs Office. “Consumers have a right to know the full extent of the potential dangers of antidepressants.”
WARNING: Anyone wishing to discontinue or change the dose of an antidepressant or other psychiatric drug is cautioned to do so only under the supervision of a physician because of potentially dangerous withdrawal symptoms or other complications.