Ten years ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned the public of the risks of suicide associated with treating kids with a class of antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which are marketed under different brand names including Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac and Seroxat.
The FDA said that antidepressant manufacturers should update their product labeling to warn about the increased risks for suicidal thoughts and behavior in patients between 18 to 24 years old during the first two months of treatment.
Studies conducted after the agency issued its black box warning, challenged the FDA's claims with some research suggesting that the benefits of taking antidepressants in teens and young adults outweigh the risks. A study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in 2007 also challenged the risks associated with SSRI's as suicide rates in teens and children have increased despite the 22 percent drop in SSRI prescription.
A new study published in the JAMA Internal Medicine, April 28, however, attempts to provide a better perspective on what makes young users more vulnerable to the suicidal effects of antidepressants. The study looked at the association between drug dosage and suicide risks in teens and young adults that earlier studies were not able to look at.
By involving over 162,000 subjects between the ages 10 to 64 years old who were diagnosed with depression and prescribed with SSRIs, the researchers found that young users 24 years old and younger who were given more than the ideal dose of antidepressants were more likely to inflict self-harm than users who were prescribed the standard doses.
"Children and young adults initiating therapy with antidepressants at high-therapeutic (rather than modal-therapeutic) doses seem to be at heightened risk of deliberate self-harm," the researchers wrote.
Based on their findings and studies that suggest antidepressant therapy offers modest effects on young users, the researchers urged doctors to avoid giving high doses of antidepressants to teens and young adults as giving the right dose of antidepressant can apparently save teens from the perils of suicidal thoughts.
Study researcher Matthew Miller, from the Injury Control Research Center at the Harvard School of Public Health, said that if he were a parent, he would not want his child to start taking higher dose of antidepressants.
