Newer Antidepressants May Increase Bleeding Risk

[Guest guest]

http://story.news./news?tmpl=story2 & cid=594 & ncid=594 & e=8 & u=/nm/20030113\

/hl_nm/antidepressants_bleeding_dc

Newer Antidepressants May Increase Bleeding Risk Health - ReutersNewer

Antidepressants May Increase Bleeding RiskMon Jan 13, 5:44 PM ET

By Merritt McKinney

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A widely prescribed class of antidepressant drugs

may increase the risk of bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract, according to a

new study from Denmark.

 

But one of the study's authors stressed that bleeding was still rare in people

taking antidepressants known as SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake

inhibitors. SSRIs include Paxil (paroxetine), Prozac (fluoxetine) and Zoloft

(sertraline).

 

" Our study showed that SSRIs are probably a risk factor for upper

gastrointestinal bleeding, " Dr. Henrik Toft Sorensen told Reuters Health.

However, the study is not the final word on the subject, according to Sorensen,

who is at the University of Aarhus in Denmark.

 

One of the limitations of the study, Sorensen said, was that researchers were

not able to take into account smoking and drinking, both of which can increase

the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding.

 

Since gastrointestinal bleeding was still rare in people taking SSRIs, " the risk

should be balanced against any therapeutic effect for the depression, " Sorensen

said.

 

The study included about 26,000 residents of a Danish county who had been

prescribed an antidepressant--SSRI or other types--during the first half of the

1990s.

 

Among people who were taking an SSRI, but not any other medications that could

increase the risk of bleeding, episodes of upper gastrointestinal bleeding were

more than three times more common than in similar people who were not taking the

drugs. This risk jumped even higher in people who were taking an SSRI in

combination with a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug or low-dose aspirin, both

of which can increase bleeding risk on their own.

 

All types of SSRIs seemed to increase the risk of bleeding the same amount.

 

Antidepressants that were not SSRIs but that still acted on serotonin were also

associated with an increased risk of gastrointestinal bleeding, but not as much

as SSRIs. In people who were taking non-SSRI antidepressants, however, their

risk of bleeding stayed the same even after they stopped taking the drugs,

suggesting that some other factors may have influenced their risk.

 

In contrast, the risk of bleeding returned to normal once people stopped taking

SSRIs. This suggests that this class of drugs may be to blame for the increased

risk of bleeding, according to the researchers.

 

The study, which is published in the January 13th issue of the journal Archives

of Internal Medicine (news - web sites), is not the first to suggest that SSRIs

may increase the risk of bleeding.

 

To battle depression, SSRIs keep levels of the chemical serotonin high.

Serotonin is not important only to the brain, however. Blood components called

platelets use serotonin to stop bleeding.

 

Since platelets cannot make serotonin on their own, researchers suspect that

SSRIs increase the risk of bleeding by sucking serotonin from the blood to the

brain.

 

SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine 2003;163:59-64.

 

 

 

 

 

Gettingwell- / Vitamins, Herbs, Aminos, etc.

 

To , e-mail to: Gettingwell-

Or, go to our group site: Gettingwell

 

 

 

 

Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now