Conflicting claims over medical merit of antidepressants

Antidepressant drugs are saving lives by reducing the suicide rate, doctors report today, but patient groups claim the drugs carry unacceptable risks that are being ignored by the regulatory authorities.

The conflict of evidence is highlighted by the publication of a study in the British Medical Journal demonstrating the benefits of antidepressants as the BBC revealed that a Panorama programme on the risks of antidepressants broadcast last autumn drew the biggest response in the programme's history.

There were 67,000 calls and 1,300 e-mails from patients and relatives worried about the drugs. A follow-up programme, to be broadcast on Sunday, will present an analysis of the responses and accuse the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency of failing in its duty to protect patients.

A positive view of anti- depressants is presented in the BMJ by researchers in Australia who examined the link between prescribing of the drugs and suicide rates between 1991 and 2000. They found that older age groups who were prescribed most antidepressants had the largest decline in suicide rates. Among younger people who were prescribed fewer drugs, suicide rates rose.

The authors of the study acknowledge that the reduced suicides in older people could be due to the drugs or to improved care by doctors. But earlier studies in Hungary and Sweden also showed that increases in the prescribing of antidepressants were accompanied by falling suicide rates.

Sunday's Panorama programme, which focuses on Britain's most widely prescribed antidepressant, Seroxat, will highlight claims that the drug triggered acts of violence, suicide and self-harm within days of treatment starting.

The mental health pressure group Mind accused the Medicines Regulatory Agency yesterday of "playing Russian roulette with people's lives" by not listening to the experiences of those who had taken Seroxat. Mind is planning a demonstration outside the agency's offices in London on Monday to demand the withdrawal of Seroxat for new prescriptions pending an independent inquiry.