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Antidepressants May Hasten Bypass Recovery, Study Finds

Posted 1 May 2013 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, May 1 – Depression is relatively common in patients who undergo heart bypass surgery, and a new study finds that short-term use of antidepressants may aid patients' recovery. "Depression among patients requiring or having undergone [bypass] surgery is high and can significantly impact postoperative recovery," said one expert not connected to the study, Dr. Bryan Bruno, acting chairman of the department of psychiatry at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. In this study, a team of French researchers looked at 182 patients who started taking a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant two to three weeks before undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery and continued taking it for six months after the procedure. SSRIs include widely used antidepressants such as Celexa, Lexapro, Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft. In this study, patients took one 10 milligram ... Read more

Study: Antidepressant Use in Pregnancy May Not Affect Baby's Growth

Posted 20 Mar 2013 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, March 20 – Taking antidepressants during pregnancy does not have an impact on an infant's growth during the first year of life, a new study says. Previous research suggested that depression during pregnancy could slow infant growth, but there were concerns that prescribing antidepressants to pregnant women might also hinder a baby's physical development. In this study, Northwestern University researchers found that infants born to mothers who took selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants during pregnancy had a similar weight, length and head circumference over the first year as babies born to mothers who did not have depression and did not take antidepressants during pregnancy. The infants whose mothers took antidepressants were shorter at birth, but that difference vanished by the time they were 2 weeks old, the study authors reported. The investigators ... Read more

Psychiatric Drugs More Often Prescribed in the South

Posted 1 Feb 2013 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, Feb. 1 – Use of psychiatric medications is most prevalent in the southern United States and least prevalent in the West, according to a new U.S. study. Although people living in the West are the least likely to use antipsychotics, antidepressants and stimulants, the Yale researchers found that the drugs' use is 40 percent higher in a large section of the South than in other parts of the country. The study authors attributed this discrepancy to variations in local access to health care and marketing efforts within the pharmaceutical industry. "The geographic patterns we identify are striking and map onto the patterns found for a host of other medical conditions and treatments, from cognitive decline to bypass surgery," Marissa King, assistant professor of organizational behavior at the Yale School of Management, said in a school news release. "Our work suggests that access to ... Read more

Prenatal Antidepressants Don't Raise Fetal, Infant Death Risk: Study

Posted 2 Jan 2013 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 2 – Women who take certain antidepressants while pregnant do not raise the risk of a stillbirth or death of their baby in the first year of life, according to a large new study. The findings stem from an analysis involving 30,000 women in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, who gave birth to more than 1.6 million babies, in total, between 1996 and 2007. Close to 2 percent of the women took prescription selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as Prozac (fluoxetine) and Paxil (paroxetine), for depressive symptoms during their pregnancy. The research team, led by Dr. Olof Stephansson of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, reports in the Jan. 2 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association that initially women taking an SSRI for depression did seem to experience statistically higher rates of stillbirth and infant death. However, ... Read more

Antidepressants May Lead to Fewer Seizures in People With Epilepsy

Posted 3 Dec 2012 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Dec. 3 – Besides helping to boost mood, antidepressants may also reduce seizure frequency for people with epilepsy, a new study suggests. The study, to be presented Monday at the annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society in San Diego, included patients who were prescribed one of two types of antidepressants – selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs). These types include drugs such as Celexa, Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft, among others. Researchers led by Dr. Ramses Ribot, of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, tracked changes in mood and anxiety levels for 100 people with epilepsy at three and six months after the start of antidepressant therapy. Improvement or remission of symptoms was seen in 86 percent of patients, the investigators found. The antidepressants tested "do not appear to worsen seizure ... Read more

Common Antidepressants Tied to Higher Bleeding Risk in Warfarin Users: Study

Posted 8 Nov 2012 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Nov. 8 – Millions of older Americans take the blood thinner warfarin, and many may also take one of a widely used class of antidepressants called SSRIs. Now, a new study finds that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) – which include Celexa, Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft – may raise the risk for major bleeding in patients also taking warfarin. Still, because depression is such a tough-to-treat illness, experts say the finding is no reason for patients on warfarin to immediately drop their SSRI. "The most important thing would be to talk to their doctor, and perhaps for patients who are on both of these medicines, doctors should just keep a close eye on them," said study author Gene Quinn, who was a resident physician in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, at the time of the study. He presented the finding this week at the American Heart ... Read more

Common Antidepressants Too Risky During Pregnancy, Researchers Say

Posted 31 Oct 2012 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 31 – Women who take a popular class of antidepressants during pregnancy may be risking the health of their developing fetus, and the risk may outweigh any benefit to the mother, a new review of data suggests. According to new research, use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) – which include Celexa, Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft – while pregnant can increase the risk of miscarriage, preterm birth, pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia and neurobehavioral problems such as autism later in life. "There is clear and concerning evidence of risk when pregnant women use these medications," said Dr. Adam Urato, senior author of a study appearing in the Oct. 31 online edition of Human Reproduction. On the other hand, he said, there is no clear evidence that SSRI antidepressants actually benefit the mother in terms of alleviating mild-to-moderate depression. Not ... Read more

Common Antidepressants May Raise Stroke Risk a Bit, Study Finds

Posted 17 Oct 2012 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 17 – People taking the popular antidepressant medications known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have a slightly higher risk of a hemorrhagic stroke, according to new research. The increased risk for drugs such as Prozac (fluoxetine) and Paxil (paroxetine), however, still translates only to about a one in 10,000 rate of a hemorrhagic stroke for anyone taking an SSRI for a year. And the raised risk tends to be strongest during the first few weeks and months after starting an SSRI, according to the study. "Physicians should be aware of this association – particularly in those with a history of brain hemorrhage or people taking anticoagulants like warfarin," said the study's lead author, Dr. Daniel Hackam, associate professor of medicine at the London Health Sciences Center of University Hospital in London, Ontario. "But lower-risk people don't have to ... Read more

Antidepressants in Pregnancy May Affect Babies' Language Development

Posted 8 Oct 2012 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, Oct. 8 – A common class of antidepressants, when taken during pregnancy, can affect aspects of language ability in the baby's earliest stages of development, a small new study suggests. The study found that treating depressed pregnant women with serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may speed up the baby's ability to focus on the sights and sounds of his or her native language. "This study shows how maternal depression and its treatment can change the timing of language development in babies," said Janet Werker, professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada, and senior author of the study. Werker stressed that the study does not show that the "sped-up" development associated with pregnant mothers who took these antidepressants was necessarily beneficial to the infant's language learning process. "In our culture we tend to think speeding ... Read more

'Publication Bias' Casts Doubt on Value of Antidepressants for Autism

Posted 23 Apr 2012 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, April 23 – Studies that show a type of antidepressant eases autism symptoms are more likely to get published in medical journals than studies concluding the drugs don't improve common behaviors such as rocking and hand-flapping, new research says. That "publication bias" may mean that physicians believe the medications – known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) – are more effective than they really are for children with these behaviors. Indeed, when researchers combined the data from published studies and those that never made it into print, the new analysis showed that SSRIs don't help repetitive behaviors much at all. "At least from what we have right now, we need more information to determine if SSRIs are useful in treating repetitive behavior," said study author Melisa Carrasco, of the neuroscience graduate program at the University of Michigan in Ann ... Read more

Newer Antidepressants May Be Safe for Parkinson's Patients

Posted 11 Apr 2012 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, April 11 – Some of the newer antidepressants can help treat depression in people with Parkinson's disease without aggravating other disease symptoms such as tremor or rigidity, researchers have found. Nearly 1 million people in the United States are living with Parkinson's disease, a progressive movement disorder marked by tremor, slowness and/or rigidity. Parkinson's disease and depression tend to travel together, and there has been concern that some of the medications used to treat depression may worsen motor symptoms. A new study published online April 11 and in the April 17 print issue of Neurology shows that this is not the case, at least when it comes to the antidepressants Paxil (paroxetine) and Effexor (venlafaxine). Paxil is in the class of drugs known as SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) while Effexor is an SNRI (serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake ... Read more

Minorities, Medicare Recipients Less Likely to Get Antidepressants

Posted 9 Apr 2012 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, April 9 – Hispanics and blacks are less likely to be prescribed antidepressants than whites, and Medicare and Medicaid patients are less likely to receive the drugs than those with private insurance, a new study says. University of Michigan School of Public Health researchers examined data from 1993 to 2007 and found that whites were 1.5 times more likely to receive antidepressants than blacks or Hispanics with major depression. The study also found that Medicare and Medicaid patients were 31 percent and 38 percent less likely to be prescribed antidepressants than privately insured patients. Race didn't play a role in the type of antidepressants prescribed to patients, but insurance did. Medicare and Medicaid patients were 58 percent and 61 percent less likely to receive newer antidepressants than privately insured patients. Newer types of antidepressants such as serotonin ... Read more

FDA Adds More Warnings to Antidepressant's Label

Posted 28 Mar 2012 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, March 28 – In a follow-up to a warning that high doses of the popular antidepressant Celexa can cause potentially fatal abnormal heart rhythms, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued new dosing and use recommendations. Last August, the FDA said doses of Celexa (citalopram hydrobromide) greater than 40 milligrams a day can cause changes in the electrical activity of the heart, which can lead to abnormal heart rhythms, including a potentially deadly arrhythmia known as Torsade de Pointes. Patients at high risk include those with preexisting heart conditions (including congestive heart failure) and those prone to low levels of potassium and magnesium in the blood, the FDA said. At the time, the drug label was revised to include the new dosage limit as well as information about the potential for abnormal heart electrical activity and rhythms. The latest recommendations ... Read more

Antidepressants May Raise Risk for Pregnancy Complication

Posted 22 Mar 2012 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, March 22 – Pregnant women taking the antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) face a slightly increased risk of developing dangerously high blood pressure, Canadian researchers report. This condition, known as preeclampsia, can harm both mothers and their unborn infants, the researchers noted. However, this association may not be cause-and-effect, so women should not just stop taking these medications but should consult with their doctor if they are concerned, they stressed. Two of the most commonly prescribed SSRIs are Paxil (paroxetine) and Prozac (fluoxetine). "We know that antidepressants should be used during pregnancy, but they should be used with caution," said lead researcher Anick Berard, director of the research unit of medications and pregnancy at CHU Ste-Justine's Research Center and a professor with the Faculty of Pharmacy at the ... Read more

Mothers on Antidepressants Are Less Likely to Breast-Feed: Study

Posted 13 Mar 2012 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, March 13 – Women who take selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants, or SSRIs, during pregnancy are much less likely to breast-feed their babies, researchers have found. The new study was conducted by researchers associated with the Connecticut Pregnancy Exposure Information Service (CPEIS), a state-funded service that provides women with information about exposures during pregnancy and breast-feeding. The study authors analyzed data from 466 pregnant women who contacted the CPEIS' California affiliate over 10 years with questions about a wide variety of exposures. The results showed that women who took an SSRI at any time during pregnancy were about 60 percent less likely to breast-feed than women who took no antidepressants. "While the benefits of breast-feeding an infant are very clear, this study suggests that women who are taking antidepressants in pregnancy ... Read more

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Depression, Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Postpartum Depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder