BMJ  2005;330 (19 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7488.0

SSRIs and suicide: evidence supports the association

People taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are more likely to attempt suicide than people taking placebo or a non-SSRI drug. Fergusson and colleagues (p 396) systematically reviewed 702 randomised controlled trials including 87 650 participants. They found significantly higher odds of suicide attempts for SSRIs than for placebo (number needed to treat to harm 684) and for therapeutic interventions other than tricyclic antidepressants (239). The meta-analysis did not detect a difference between SSRIs and tricyclic antidepressants. A number of major methodological limitations of the published trials may have led to underestimates of the risk of suicide attempts, say the authors.

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Association between suicide attempts and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors: systematic review of randomised controlled trials

Dean Fergusson, Steve Doucette, Kathleen Cranley Glass, Stan Shapiro, David Healy, Paul Hebert, and Brian Hutton
BMJ 2005 330: 396. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]