WHAT ARE THE MAJOR SCIENTIFIC FINDINGS REGARDING ANY POSSIBLE CONNECTION BETWEEN PROZAC AND SUICIDE?
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An important study undertaken in 1991 by two Harvard psychiatrists analyzed the data of twenty-seven psychiatrists who had treated a total of 1017 depressed patients with various antidepressants. They recorded how many patients were given each kind of antidepressant; how many patients in each group were suicidal before beginning therapy (the total for the entire population was about 17%); how many in each group were not suicidal; and how many in each group were not suicidal before therapy but became so afterwards. This latter finding was the real purpose of this survey. The survey reported that:
* of the 231 non-suicidal patients who took Prozac, 3.5% became suicidal after initiating therapy;
* of the 62 non-suicidal patients who took Prozac in combination with a tricyclic antidepressant (TCA), 6.5% became suicidal;
* of the 385 non-suicidal patients who took a TCA alone or in combination with lithium, 1.3% became suicidal;
* of the 63 non-suicidal patients who took a Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitor (MAOI) antidepressant, not one became suicidal;
* of the 101 non-suicidal patients who took other antidepressants, 3% became suicidal.
The differences between these groups were not statistically significant except for the group given a combination of Prozac and a TCA.
was not associated with an increased risk of suicide or suicidal thoughts. The findings include the following:
• substantial suicidal thinking emerged in 1.2% of the patients taking Prozac, 3.6% of those on a TCA, and 2.6% of those taking a placebo;
• suicidal thinking became worse with 153% of those on Prozac, 16.3% of those on a TCA, and 17.9% of those who were given a placebo;
• in most patients, suicidal thinking lessened considerably with both antidepressants. 72.0% improved on Prozac compared to 54.8% on the placebo, and 72.5% improved on the TCA vs. 69.8% on the placebo;
• the pooled incidence of suicidal acts was 03% for Prozac, 0.4% for the TCAs, and 0.2% for the placebo;
• none of these differences were considered statistically significant.
*67\22\4*
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Tags: Anti Depressants
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