A new analysis published in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics discloses important findings as to the role of antidepressant drugs in preventing suicide.
It is unclear whether antidepressants can prevent suicides or suicide attempts, particularly during long-term use.
The Authors carried out a comprehensive review of long-term studies of antidepressants (relapse prevention). Sources were obtained from 5 review articles and by searches of MEDLINE, PubMed Central and a hand search of bibliographies. We meta-analyzed placebo-controlled antidepressant RCTs of at least 3 months’ duration and calculated suicide and suicide attempt incidence rates, incidence rate ratios and Peto odds ratios (ORs).