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NEWS EXTRA: Scott Gottlieb Users of SSRIs face risk of abnormal bleeding BMJ 2004; 329: 1258-d [Full text]

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NNH

Toshi A. Furukawa   (27 November 2004)

NNH 27 November 2004
Toshi A. Furukawa, Professor of psychiatry Dept Psychiatry, Nagoya City Univ Med School, Nagoya, Japan 467-8601 Send response to journal: Re: NNH	The news extra by Scott Gotlieb on selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and abnormal bleeding would have been more informative for clinicians, had the author included the number needed to harm (NNH) for this adverse event. Because the original study is a nested case- control study, we can calculate the NNH, depending on the incidence of abnormal bleeding among new SSRI users (196/64000). The NNH for taking SSRI for more than a month to cause abnormal bleeding requiring hospital admission was 690 (95% CI: 250 to 6200). Will and/or should this influence clinicians' prescription patterns? Perhaps yes only among those at high risk for bleeding. Competing interests: I have received several research grants and fees for speaking from some pharmaceutical companies, including those which market SSRIs.