The occurrence of suicide following the prescription of antidepressant drugs

被引:12
作者
Donovan, S [1 ]
Kelleher, MJ
Lambourn, J
Foster, T
机构
[1] Univ Nottingham Hosp, Queens Med Ctr, Dept Epidemiol & Publ Hlth Med, Nottingham NG7 2UH, England
[2] Suicide Res Fdn Ltd, Cork, Ireland
[3] Torbay Hosp, Dept Psychiat, Torquay, England
[4] Queens Univ Belfast, Dept Mental Hlth, Belfast BT7 1NN, Antrim, North Ireland
关键词
antidepressants; overdose; suicide;
D O I
10.1080/13811119908258328
中图分类号
R749 [精神病学];
学科分类号
100205 ;
摘要
Data from 222 suicides were collected over a period spanning 1990 to 1994 from three regions of Britain and Ireland (Torbay [England], Northern Ireland and Cork [Republic of Ireland]). Forty one (18.5%) of the cases had been prescribed one antidepressant within one month of their suicide. The ratio between the occurrence of suicide and the prescription of different classes of antidepressant, particularly tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), indicated that suicide by any method (violence, gassing, poisoning by ingestion of any substance) was more likely to occur following the prescription of SSRIs than of TCAs. We found some evidence that less-overdose-toxic antidepressants were preferentially prescribed to patients at a higher risk of suicide which probably largely explains our finding. The clinical implications of our result are that whilst preferential prescribing of safer-in-overdose antidepressants will reduce fatalities due to TCA overdose, this tactic is unlikely, by itself, to have a significant effect on the overall suicide rate.
引用
收藏
页码:181 / 192
页数:12
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