Clinical Features of Patients With Treatment-Emergent Suicidal Behavior Following Initiation of Paroxetine Therapy

This meta-analysis of randomized, placebo-controlled trials compared suicidality in adult patients treated with paroxetine versus placebo. The goal was to identify emergent clinical characteristics of patients with definitive suicidal behaviour. The dataset comprised 14,911 patients from 57 trials. Possible cases of suicidality were identified & blindly reviewed by an expert panel. Overall, there were no differences between paroxetine & placebo. However, in patients with major depressive disorder, the incidence of definitive suicidal behaviour was greater for paroxetine. Review of the 11 caes revealed common clinical characteristics. Anxiety disorder patients with definitive suicidal behaviour had a heterogeneous clinical picture. (33 refs.)