Antidepressants absent in most suicides: study

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In a postmortem toxicology study of a group of adults who committed suicide in New York City, researchers found that most were not taking antidepressants.

"The results indicate that the majority of the suicides did not result from antidepressant use," Dr. Andrew C. Leon, of Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, and colleagues write in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Indeed, they say, it's possible that many of the suicides "perhaps could have been prevented with appropriate treatment."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently ordered the makers of all antidepressants to include strong warnings explaining that the drugs increase the chances of suicidal behavior in some children and teens, Leon and colleagues point out. With the current study, "we consider whether antidepressants are linked with adult suicide deaths."

Their study included all 1,419 suicides, 18 years and older, in New York City from 2001 to 2004. Jumping (30.4 percent), hanging (27.8 percent), firearms (16.6 percent), and drug overdoses (9.1 percent) were the most common methods of suicide.

Antidepressants were detected at autopsy in just 267 (23.1 percent) of the 1,158 suicides included in the final analysis. Antidepressants were least prevalent in suicides aged 18 to 24 years (13.9 percent).

"The study," the researchers conclude, "underscores the need for expanded public health awareness about identification of and treatments for depression and other psychiatric disorders."

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, September 2007.