Suicide Risk the Same Across the Board for Antidepressant Medications, Researchers Find

According to a new report published April 12, 2010, the risk of suicidal thoughts and tendencies in children and adolescents taking antidepressants does not differ among the most commonly prescribed antidepressant medications currently on the market.

"Across the most frequently prescribed antidepressant agents, there was no difference in risk of suicide attempts and completed suicides," said Dr. Sebastian Schneeweiss, lead researcher of the study published in Pediatrics, the online journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The study included 20,906 participants diagnosed with depression, ranging in age from 10 to 18 years old. Participants were prescribed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, a common type of antidepressant, which included medications such as Zoloft, Prozac and Paxil.  Participants were examined for nine years.

According to Dr. Schneeweiss, the study showed that children taking antidepressants had double the risk of suicidal thoughts when compared to those taking a placebo. This information further supports the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's requirement of a black box warning on all antidepressant medications cautioning consumers of the increased risk of suicidal thoughts in children and adolescents taking the drugs.

Though 226 suicide attempts and three suicides occurred during the first year of the study, a significant difference between the specific antidepressant medications taken and the suicidal tendencies expressed by the patients was not present.

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