Antidepressants are commonly-prescribed medications, but their effect on cardiovascular disability and death is not yet clear. Postmenopausal women taking antidepressants seem to be at an increased risk for stroke and death, according to an analysis from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study. The results of this analysis of antidepressants are published in the December 2009 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

In this prospective cohort study, over 130,000 community-dwelling postmenopausal women were studied in order to look for associations between the use of antidepressants and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. During an average follow-up period of 5.9 years, 5,496 of the women were started on antidepressants. Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and their colleagues found that the use of antidepressants was not associated with coronary heart disease. However, the use of antidepressants in the selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class was associated with increased stroke risk. And, use of antidepressants in the tricyclic antidepressant or SSRI classes was associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality. However, none of these associations were statistically significant.

Source:

Arch Intern Med 2009;169(22):2128-2139.