[drugawareness] Heart Problems and Antidepressants = 55% Greater chance of dying

[Guest guest]

atracyphd2

Sun, 8 Oct 2006 22:52:52 EDT

[drugawareness] Heart Problems and Antidepressants = 55%

Greater chance of dying

 

 

 

Because of two phone calls that came in to me yesterday I am sending this

warning out on the effects of antidepressants upon the heart even

though it

came out several months ago.

 

The first call that came in yesterday was from a friend whose mother was

admitted to a hospital in VA for symptoms of a racing heart. One of

the meds she

was given for this was Celexa!!!! Celexa, along with its offspring,

Lexapro, are two of the strongest SSRIs on the market and therefore

two of the most

deadly. Dr. Paucher has done much research on the effects of these

drugs upon

the heart - Celexa, in particular.

 

The second call was from a woman in TN who lost her husband a few

months ago

due to an Effexor-induced incident of out of character behavior that

led to

him being shot. Tragically the drug had been given to him for heart

problems.

 

This is very alarming to me! Do we now need to ask in these violence cases

if they are on heart medications because these people are being led to

believe

that is what they are being given when it is in fact an antidepressant

that

increases the chances of them dying of the heart problems by

55%?!!!!!!!! !!!!!! This is insane!

 

Of course they are pushing them for hot flashes in menopause too. The

truth

is they are pushing them for anything they can think of since it all

increases profit. The warning about these drugs need to go out ASAP to

everyone!

 

Ann Blake Tracy, Ph.D.,

Executive Director, International Coalition For Drug Awareness

Website: _www.drugawareness. org_ (http://www.drugawar eness.org/)

Author: Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? - Our Serotonin Nightmare

& CD or audio tape on safe withdrawal: " Help! I Can't Get

Off My Antidepressant! "

Order Number: 800-280-0730

____________ _________ _________ __

 

Even after controlling for such factors as age, degree of heart

disease and

severity of depression, the researchers found that heart patients taking

antidepressant medications had a 55 percent higher risk of dying.

 

_http://www.dukemedn ews.org/news/ article.php? id=9535_

(http://www.dukemedn ews.org/news/ article.php? id=9535)

 

Anti-Depressant, Heart Risk Association Needs Further Study

(http://www.dukemedn ews.org/news/ index.php)

keywords : _Depression_

(http://www.dukemedn ews.org/search/ search.php? q=Depression) ,

_Heart Disease_

(http://www.dukemedn ews.org/search/ search.php? q=Heart+Disease) ,

_antidepressant_

(http://www.dukemedn ews.org/search/ search.php? q=antidepressant)

date : 3/4/2006 media contact : Richard

Merritt , (919) 684-4148 _

merri006 (AT) mc (DOT) duke.edu_

(http://www.dukemedn ews.org/global/ contact.php? email=merri006@

mc.duke.edu)

DURHAM, N.C. †" In a surprising finding, patients with coronary artery

disease

who take commonly used antidepressant drugs may be at significantly higher

risk of death, Duke University Medical Center researchers have found.

Even after controlling for such factors as age, degree of heart

disease and

severity of depression, the researchers found that heart patients taking

antidepressant medications had a 55 percent higher risk of dying.

Previously,

Duke researchers reported that the presence of depression is an

important risk

factor for heart patients. This new finding of the risk from

anti-depressants

raises issues about the optimal way to treat depression in cardiac

patients,

the researchers said.

According to Duke team leader Lana Watkins, Ph.D., the researchers believe

their findings add further support for the potential role of

non-pharmocological approaches to treating depression, such as

exercise, in reducing the risk

of death in depressed heart patients. She said that physicians caring for

heart patients who are taking antidepressants should monitor patients

closely.

Watkins added that the design of the study prevents definitive conclusions

regarding the effects of antidepressant drugs. In the current

observational

study, patients were not randomized to receive an antidepressant or a

placebo

drug, therefore characteristics of the patients, such as more

likelihood for

their depression or their medical condition to worsen, may be

responsible for

the effects, she said.

Randomized placebo-controlled trials are needed to not only replicate the

Duke findings, but to better understand whether antidepressant use is

identifying patients likely to have more severe or worsening

depression or worsening

medical disease during the follow-up period, Watkins added.

" This finding that antidepressant use was an independent risk factor for

mortality in patients with coronary artery disease was quite

unexpected, " said

Watkins, who presented the results of the Duke study March 4, 2006, at the

annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society in Denver. The

research was

supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

" We were surprised since antidepressants, particularly the newer class of

antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors

(SSRI), have

been generally considered safe, " Watkins said. " However, even after taking

into account many patient variables, as well as the type of

antidepressant, the

risk still remained. So there is something important going on here that we

don't fully understand. "

During the past decade, cardiologists and physicians have gained a greater

appreciation that depression should be considered as an important risk

factor

for patients with coronary artery disease, said the researchers. For this

reason, they have increasingly prescribed antidepressants for these

patients;

however, this increase in use has not been accompanied by conclusive

scientific

data on the effects of antidepressants †" especially SSRIs †" on

mortality.

For her study, Watkins prospectively analyzed the clinical data of 921

Duke

University Hospital patients receiving a cardiac angiography procedure to

determine the extent of blockage in their coronary arteries. Of the

total number

of patients, just under one in five (19.4 percent) were taking an

antidepressant; with SSRIs being taken by 66 percent of those patients.

During their hospitalization, patients were given the Beck Depression

Inventory (BDI), a commonly used depression screening test. In

general, patients

with a BDI score of 10 or higher are considered depressed. In the Duke

study,

those patients who were not taking antidepressants had an average BDI

score of

7, while those on antidepressants had an average score of 11, a

statistically significant difference.

The patients were followed over an average of three years, and during that

time 21.4 percent of the patients who were taking antidepressants had

died,

compared to 12.5 percent for those not on antidepressants.

After adjusting for such factors as age, gender, heart pumping strength,

smoking history, degree of other illnesses, heart procedures, BDI

score and

education, the researchers found that patients taking antidepressants

had a 55

percent higher risk of dying. The difference between SSRI and non-SSRI

use †" 61

percent vs. 49 percent †" was not statistically significant.

Watkins said the future studies are needed to uncover the reasons

responsible for depression's negative effect on mortality. Also, she

said, researchers

do not fully understand the physiological effects of SSRIs on patients

with

coronary artery disease.

While physicians do not know why there appears to be a link between

depression and increased risk of mortality, there are a number of

theories, said

Watkins. Depression has been linked to supression of the immune

system, as well

as alteration of the aggregation properties of blood platelets. It has

also

been linked to other such cardiovascular risk factors as insulin

resistance,

hypertension, obesity, increased cigarette smoking, alcohol abuse and

physical

inactivity, she noted.

In April, Duke investigators will begin enrolling depressed patients in a

randomized trial testing the abilities of exercise and SSRIs to impact

such

physiological markers of coronary artery disease as platelet

aggregation, heart

rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity, or the ability of blood

vessel

walls to respond appropriately to changes in blood pressure.

Other Duke colleagues on the study included James Blumenthal, Ph.D.,

Jonathan Davidson, M.D., Charles McCants, Christopher O'Connor, M.D.

and Michael

Sketch, M.D.