Suicide rates and antidepressant prescribing: a casual or causal relationship?

Bernhard Baune; Phillipa Hay

doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0030220

Suicide rates and antidepressant prescribing: a casual or causal relationship?

PLoS Med. 2006 Jun;3(6):e220. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0030220.

Authors

Bernhard Baune¹, Phillipa Hay

Affiliation

¹ Discipline of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, James Cook University, Queensland, Australia.

Abstract

Baune and Hay discuss the strengths and limitations of an ecological study that found an inverse correlation between suicide rates and fluoxetine prescriptions.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation / administration & dosage
Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation / adverse effects*
Depression / drug therapy*
Female
Fluoxetine / administration & dosage
Fluoxetine / adverse effects*
Humans
Male
Research Design
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / administration & dosage
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / adverse effects*
Suicide / statistics & numerical data*
Suicide / trends
United States

Substances

Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation
Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors
Fluoxetine