Unpublished trials data suggest most SSRI antidepressants unsuitable fo...( A UK study in this week's issue of THE ...),Health

A UK study in this week's issue of THE LANCET suggests that reliance on published studies alone to guide the treatment of childhood depression could be inappropriate. A systematic review including published and unpublished data shows that only one drug, fluoxetine (Prozac), was not associated with negative outcomes for children with depression.

There is a clear need for effective treatment for childhood depressive disorders; up to 6% of children and adolescents are thought to suffer from depression, and suicide is the third largest cause of death among 10-19 year-olds in developed countries. The class of drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) has previously been considered to offer the best drug-treatment option for childhood depression, although recommendations for various SSRIs including fluoxetine and paroxetine (Paxil) are based on limited evidence from published studies. Questions concerning the safety of SSRIs led Craig Whittington and Tim Kendall from the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health, London, UK, and colleagues to compare and contrast published and unpublished data on the risks and benefits of these drugs.

The investigators reanalysed data from randomised controlled trials that evaluated an SSRI compared with placebo in children aged 5-18 years that were published in a peer-reviewed journal. The analysis was extended to include data from unpublished trials (made available from the UK Committee for the Safety of Medicines).

From the published studies alone, all the SSRIs appeared to have a favourable risk-benefit ratio. With the exception of fluoxetine, the wider analysis of including data from unpublished trials suggested that the risk of SSRI treatment exceeded the benefits; for example, the inclusion of unpublished data on the effects of paroxetine showed it to be associated with a small increased risk in suicidal thoughts or attempted suicid
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Contact: Joe Santangelo
j.santangelo@elsevier.com
212-633-3810
Lancet
22-Apr-2004

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