Antidepressant Treatment and the Risk of Fatal and Non-fatal Self Harm in First Episode Depression: Nested Case-Control Study

The authors compared the risk of non-fatal self harm & suicide in 146,095 patients taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) with that of patients taking tricyclic antidepressants. They found that the overall adjusted odds ratio of suicide was 0.57 (0.26 to 1.25) in patients prescribed SSRIs compared with those prescribed tricyclic antidepressants. They found some evidence of an increased risk of non-fatal self harm for current SSRI use among those aged 18 or younger, but not in those over 18 years of age. (20 refs)