Heart risk link to SSRI antidepressants confirmed

[Northerner]

Some but not all antidepressant drugs known as SSRIs pose a very small but serious heart risk, say researchers.

Citalopram and escitalopram, which fall into this drug group, can trigger a heart rhythm disturbance, a new study in the British Medical Journal shows.

UK and US regulators have already warned doctors to be extra careful about which patients they prescribe these medicines to.

And they have lowered the maximum recommended dose.

The UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) says people with pre-existing heart conditions should have a heart trace before going on these drugs, to check for a rhythm disturbance known as long QT interval.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21247330

 

[Northerner]

Antidepressant link to heart changes confirmed

"Heart risk link to SSRI antidepressants confirmed," BBC News reports. The BBC goes on to say that "some but not all antidepressant drugs known as SSRIs pose a very small but serious heart risk".
This news, which was reported well by the BBC was based on good quality research into the relationship between the electrical activity of the heart and use of antidepressant medication.
Researchers were particularly interested in potential risks associated with a kind of SSRI antidepressant called citalopram, as it has been the subject of recent warnings by European and US drug regulators. Other SSRI antidepressants were included in the study as well. The researchers were also interested in an older tricyclic antidepressant called amitriptyline, which is also used to treat nerve pain.

http://www.nhs.uk/news/2013/01Janua...nts-associated-with-potential-heart-risk.aspx