Use Of Antidepressants Can Lead To Cardiovascular Disease

Oct, 2022 - By WMR

Researchers found that there are higher hazards associated with both medicines and depression.

The largest epidemiological study to date looking at the effects of using antidepressants over 10 years has found that long-term use may increase the risk of heart disease. On September 23, 2022, the University of Bristol-led study was published in the British Journal of Psychiatry. In England, prescriptions for antidepressants are among the most common. Antidepressant prescriptions were more than 70 million written in 2018. Instead of more diagnoses, long-term treatment is mostly to blame for the startling surge in prescribing. The effects of long-term usage of these medications on the body, however, are not well understood.

The Center for Academic Mental Health in Bristol conducted a study to determine whether long-term antidepressant usage was linked to the development of some health issues: hyperglycemia, elevated blood pressure, heart disease, hemorrhage and linked syndromes.Long-term antidepressant usage was linked to an increased risk of coronary heart disease, as well as an increased chance of mortality from cardiovascular disease and any cause, according to the researchers' findings after accounting for pre-existing risk factors. Non-SSRI antidepressants carried higher risks.

This is crucial since many individuals on antidepressants including trazodone, mirtazapine, venlafaxine, and duloxetine may experience more severe depression. In light of this, it might be challenging to clearly distinguish between the effects of the medicine and those of the depression. To determine whether the connections we have observed are indeed caused by the medications, more investigation is required.

Clinical practitioners should be aware that long-term antidepressant prescription may not be risk-free. They anticipate that this research will aid medical professionals and patients in having better educated discussions about the advantages and disadvantages of various depression treatments. The results highlight the significance of proactive cardiovascular monitoring and prevention in patients with depression who are taking antidepressants given that both have been associated with greater risks, regardless of whether the medications are the underlying cause of these issues.