The mental health pill linked to suicide

[poledriver]

The mental health pill linked to suicide

AN antidepressant found safe for teenagers could be harming not helping them, says a ground breaking new study linking it to suicidal and self-harming behaviour.
The medicine Aropax was declared safe for use in adolescents in a drug company funded study in 2001 but a new look at that study has found it hid results about dangerous suicidal behaviour.
It’s one of the first reviews to examine controversial medical trials that other researchers suspect misreport or distort actual trial results.
And author Adelaide University psychiatrist Professor Jon Jureidini says the results “scare me”.
“You can’t trust what is written in medical journals unless the individual patient data and the protocols of the study are made publicly available,” he said.

The controversial Study 329 that backed the safety of the drug was funded by drug company SmithKline Beecham’s (now GlaxoSmithKline) in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in 2001.
That study found the drug was effective and safe for treating depression in adolescents.
But the Australian review of the patient data used in that study has found 11 of the almost 100 patients taking the drug engaged in suicidal or self-harm behaviour compared to only one person in the group taking the placebo.
Professor Jureidini’s review found of the 11 patients taking paroxetine who experienced adverse events designated as serious, nine discontinued treatment because of these events.
The medicine paroxetine is sold under the brand names Paxil, Aropax and Seroxat and in Australia more than 626,000 prescriptions for the drug were filled in the year to June.

Cont -

http://www.news.com.au/world/the-mental-health-pill-linked-to-suicide/story-fndir2ev-1227531183516

 

[SixBuckets]

“You can’t trust what is written in medical journals unless the individual patient data and the protocols of the study are made publicly available,” he said.

And you certainly can't trust news media reports on medical research when the journalist leaves out really basic information about the results.

Did these self harm/suicide incidents happen within the first four weeks of treatment with the drug? Because we've known for over a decade that that window has an increased risk of suicidal behaviour when treating people with depression, especially young people, with SSRIs.

 

[casual1]

People who had prior histories of suicidal ideation and actual suicide attempts were excluded from the study. They only developed the tendancies after they started on the drug. The trial lasted for 8 weeks. See here: http://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h4320

 

[Black]

The controversial Study 329 that backed the safety of the drug was funded by drug company SmithKline Beecham’s (now GlaxoSmithKline)

of course it was. if they want to use the drug for a specific purpose they have to pay for it. it's not the responsibility of the public to fund research that mainly serves the profits of pharmaceutical companies. the problem is not who funds the studies but rather that there are no serious repercussions for not publishing all relevant data or for not publishing studies at all if they don't show the intended result.

 

[SixBuckets]

People who had prior histories of suicidal ideation and actual suicide attempts were excluded from the study. They only developed the tendancies after they started on the drug. The trial lasted for 8 weeks. See here: http://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h4320

That doesn't make any sense. Why would you control for a common feature of major depression when assessing the safety of a medication recommended for treatment of major depression? Again, we've known for ages that increased suicidal behaviour in the first few weeks of treatment is a recognised side effect.