Temporal changes in suicide rates for persons treated and not treated with antidepressants in Denmark during 1995–1999
Authors:
- L. SøndergårdLSL. Søndergård
- K. KvistKKK. Kvist
- A. G. LopezALA. G. Lopez
- P. K. AndersenPAP. K. Andersen
- L. V. KessingLKL. V. Kessing
- 18 April 2006
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica
- Vol. 114 (3) , 168-176
Abstract
Objective: To compare the temporal changes in suicide rate among patients treated with antidepressants with the change in suicide rate among persons who have not been treated with antidepressants during 1995–1999.Method: In a historic prospective national pharmacoepidemiological register linkage study by using four Danish registers we included 438 625 patients who had purchased antidepressants, and compared them with 1 199 057 population based control persons. The annual rate of suicide was estimated using Poisson regression analyses.Results: The suicide rate decreased for persons treated with antidepressants as well as for persons not treated with antidepressants. The proportion of persons, who committed suicide and who had not been treated with antidepressants decreased. The reduction in suicide rate was more pronounced among persons treated with SSRIs or older antidepressants than among persons not treated with antidepressants.Conclusion: Several factors contribute to the decreasing suicide rate. The most pronounced decrease in suicide rate was found among persons treated with antidepressants.Keywords
This publication has 19 references indexed in Scilit:
- Register now: validity laterActa Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 2005
- Administrative registers in psychiatric research: a systematic review of validity studiesActa Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 2005
- Anti-depressants, suicide, and drug regulationJournal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2005
- Antidepressants and suicidal behaviour in unipolar depressionActa Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 2004
- The predictive effect of episodes on the risk of recurrence in depressive and bipolar disorders – a life‐long perspectiveActa Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 2004
- Mortality of patients with mood disorders: follow-up over 34–38 yearsJournal of Affective Disorders, 2002
- World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) Guidelines for Biological Treatment of Unipolar Depressive Disorders, Part 2: Maintenance Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder and Treatment of Chronic Depressive Disorders and Subthreshold DepressionsThe World Journal of Biological Psychiatry, 2002
- Suboptimal Use of Antidepressants in the Treatment of DepressionCNS Drugs, 2000
- Use of paracetamol for suicide and non-fatal poisoning in the UK and France: are restrictions on availability justified?Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 1997
- Low level of antidepressant prescription for people who later commit suicide: 15 years of experience from a population‐based drug database in SwedenActa Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 1992