The risk of cancer increased 11 percent on average for patients taking antidepressants

[Guest guest]

http://articles.boston.com/2011-04-08/news/29397527_1_suicidal-thoughts-and-behavior-selective-serotonin-reuptake-inhibitors-ovarian-cancer

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0018210

Researcher urges review of cancer link to antidepressants

April 08, 2011|By Dune Lawrence, Bloomberg

News

NEW YORK — Scientists should more closely examine whether

antidepressant drugs increase the risk of breast and ovarian

cancer, according to a researcher affiliated with Harvard

whose review of 61 studies suggested a link.

The risk of cancer increased 11 percent on average for

patients taking the medicines, according to a report that

analyzed previous data and was published in Wednesday’s issue

of the peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE.

The researchers found that 20 of the studies identified a

link. The connection was stronger in cases of the most widely

used of the drugs, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Of

16 studies that looked at this class of drugs, which include

Paxil, 15 detected a higher chance of cancer, according to the

paper.

“Reviewing the evidence is a critical public health issue

in light of the increasing prevalence of antidepressant

use, especially among women, and in light of the fact that

one in eight women will be diagnosed with cancer of the

breast during their lifetime,’’ the investigators said in

the report.

Cosgrove, a research lab fellow at Harvard’s Edmond

J. Safra Center for Ethics and an associate professor of

psychology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, led

the review. The findings point to a need for more study of

the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in

women and the link to cancer, she said.

“I would want to consider nondrug treatment if I was

mildly depressed, given our data,’’ Cosgrove said.

Antidepressants, used by 27 million Americans, are the

third most prescribed class of drug in the United States,

behind cholesterol-lowering medications and painkillers.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which raise

levels of the chemical serotonin in the brain, have been

shown to increase suicidal thoughts and behavior in

teenagers and children, and the Food and Drug

Administration in 2004 ordered that the medications carry

the strictest warning on their labels.

The first such drug was Eli Lilly’s Prozac, approved by

the FDA in 1987. A message left for Mark , a Lilly

spokesman, was not immediately returned. Alspach, a

spokeswoman for GlaxoKline, the London-based maker of

Paxil, declined to comment because no one at the company

had had the opportunity to review the study.

Cosgrove and her five collaborators analyzed 26

epidemiological and 35 preclinical studies conducted

between 1965 and 2010 that tested for a link between

antidepressants and breast or ovarian cancer.

The increase in the risk of cancer was based on a

meta-analysis of the 26 epidemiological studies. The

Harvard project reanalyzed the studies to see whether the

combined data would give a clearer picture of the risk.

The individual studies had mixed results. One published

in 2000 by Dr. Cotterchio of the University of

Toronto showed that compared with no antidepressant use,

the breast-cancer risk for women who took tricyclic drugs

(an older class of treatments) for more than two years

doubled. Women taking paroxetine (branded as Paxil) faced

a sevenfold increase, according to the same report.

[Guest guest]

http://articles.boston.com/2011-04-08/news/29397527_1_suicidal-thoughts-and-behavior-selective-serotonin-reuptake-inhibitors-ovarian-cancer

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0018210

Researcher urges review of cancer link to antidepressants

April 08, 2011|By Dune Lawrence, Bloomberg

News

NEW YORK — Scientists should more closely examine whether

antidepressant drugs increase the risk of breast and ovarian

cancer, according to a researcher affiliated with Harvard

whose review of 61 studies suggested a link.

The risk of cancer increased 11 percent on average for

patients taking the medicines, according to a report that

analyzed previous data and was published in Wednesday’s issue

of the peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE.

The researchers found that 20 of the studies identified a

link. The connection was stronger in cases of the most widely

used of the drugs, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Of

16 studies that looked at this class of drugs, which include

Paxil, 15 detected a higher chance of cancer, according to the

paper.

“Reviewing the evidence is a critical public health issue

in light of the increasing prevalence of antidepressant

use, especially among women, and in light of the fact that

one in eight women will be diagnosed with cancer of the

breast during their lifetime,’’ the investigators said in

the report.

Cosgrove, a research lab fellow at Harvard’s Edmond

J. Safra Center for Ethics and an associate professor of

psychology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, led

the review. The findings point to a need for more study of

the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in

women and the link to cancer, she said.

“I would want to consider nondrug treatment if I was

mildly depressed, given our data,’’ Cosgrove said.

Antidepressants, used by 27 million Americans, are the

third most prescribed class of drug in the United States,

behind cholesterol-lowering medications and painkillers.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which raise

levels of the chemical serotonin in the brain, have been

shown to increase suicidal thoughts and behavior in

teenagers and children, and the Food and Drug

Administration in 2004 ordered that the medications carry

the strictest warning on their labels.

The first such drug was Eli Lilly’s Prozac, approved by

the FDA in 1987. A message left for Mark , a Lilly

spokesman, was not immediately returned. Alspach, a

spokeswoman for GlaxoKline, the London-based maker of

Paxil, declined to comment because no one at the company

had had the opportunity to review the study.

Cosgrove and her five collaborators analyzed 26

epidemiological and 35 preclinical studies conducted

between 1965 and 2010 that tested for a link between

antidepressants and breast or ovarian cancer.

The increase in the risk of cancer was based on a

meta-analysis of the 26 epidemiological studies. The

Harvard project reanalyzed the studies to see whether the

combined data would give a clearer picture of the risk.

The individual studies had mixed results. One published

in 2000 by Dr. Cotterchio of the University of

Toronto showed that compared with no antidepressant use,

the breast-cancer risk for women who took tricyclic drugs

(an older class of treatments) for more than two years

doubled. Women taking paroxetine (branded as Paxil) faced

a sevenfold increase, according to the same report.

[Guest guest]

http://articles.boston.com/2011-04-08/news/29397527_1_suicidal-thoughts-and-behavior-selective-serotonin-reuptake-inhibitors-ovarian-cancer

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0018210

Researcher urges review of cancer link to antidepressants

April 08, 2011|By Dune Lawrence, Bloomberg

News

NEW YORK — Scientists should more closely examine whether

antidepressant drugs increase the risk of breast and ovarian

cancer, according to a researcher affiliated with Harvard

whose review of 61 studies suggested a link.

The risk of cancer increased 11 percent on average for

patients taking the medicines, according to a report that

analyzed previous data and was published in Wednesday’s issue

of the peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE.

The researchers found that 20 of the studies identified a

link. The connection was stronger in cases of the most widely

used of the drugs, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Of

16 studies that looked at this class of drugs, which include

Paxil, 15 detected a higher chance of cancer, according to the

paper.

“Reviewing the evidence is a critical public health issue

in light of the increasing prevalence of antidepressant

use, especially among women, and in light of the fact that

one in eight women will be diagnosed with cancer of the

breast during their lifetime,’’ the investigators said in

the report.

Cosgrove, a research lab fellow at Harvard’s Edmond

J. Safra Center for Ethics and an associate professor of

psychology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, led

the review. The findings point to a need for more study of

the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in

women and the link to cancer, she said.

“I would want to consider nondrug treatment if I was

mildly depressed, given our data,’’ Cosgrove said.

Antidepressants, used by 27 million Americans, are the

third most prescribed class of drug in the United States,

behind cholesterol-lowering medications and painkillers.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which raise

levels of the chemical serotonin in the brain, have been

shown to increase suicidal thoughts and behavior in

teenagers and children, and the Food and Drug

Administration in 2004 ordered that the medications carry

the strictest warning on their labels.

The first such drug was Eli Lilly’s Prozac, approved by

the FDA in 1987. A message left for Mark , a Lilly

spokesman, was not immediately returned. Alspach, a

spokeswoman for GlaxoKline, the London-based maker of

Paxil, declined to comment because no one at the company

had had the opportunity to review the study.

Cosgrove and her five collaborators analyzed 26

epidemiological and 35 preclinical studies conducted

between 1965 and 2010 that tested for a link between

antidepressants and breast or ovarian cancer.

The increase in the risk of cancer was based on a

meta-analysis of the 26 epidemiological studies. The

Harvard project reanalyzed the studies to see whether the

combined data would give a clearer picture of the risk.

The individual studies had mixed results. One published

in 2000 by Dr. Cotterchio of the University of

Toronto showed that compared with no antidepressant use,

the breast-cancer risk for women who took tricyclic drugs

(an older class of treatments) for more than two years

doubled. Women taking paroxetine (branded as Paxil) faced

a sevenfold increase, according to the same report.

[Guest guest]

http://articles.boston.com/2011-04-08/news/29397527_1_suicidal-thoughts-and-behavior-selective-serotonin-reuptake-inhibitors-ovarian-cancer

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0018210

Researcher urges review of cancer link to antidepressants

April 08, 2011|By Dune Lawrence, Bloomberg

News

NEW YORK — Scientists should more closely examine whether

antidepressant drugs increase the risk of breast and ovarian

cancer, according to a researcher affiliated with Harvard

whose review of 61 studies suggested a link.

The risk of cancer increased 11 percent on average for

patients taking the medicines, according to a report that

analyzed previous data and was published in Wednesday’s issue

of the peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE.

The researchers found that 20 of the studies identified a

link. The connection was stronger in cases of the most widely

used of the drugs, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Of

16 studies that looked at this class of drugs, which include

Paxil, 15 detected a higher chance of cancer, according to the

paper.

“Reviewing the evidence is a critical public health issue

in light of the increasing prevalence of antidepressant

use, especially among women, and in light of the fact that

one in eight women will be diagnosed with cancer of the

breast during their lifetime,’’ the investigators said in

the report.

Cosgrove, a research lab fellow at Harvard’s Edmond

J. Safra Center for Ethics and an associate professor of

psychology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, led

the review. The findings point to a need for more study of

the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in

women and the link to cancer, she said.

“I would want to consider nondrug treatment if I was

mildly depressed, given our data,’’ Cosgrove said.

Antidepressants, used by 27 million Americans, are the

third most prescribed class of drug in the United States,

behind cholesterol-lowering medications and painkillers.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which raise

levels of the chemical serotonin in the brain, have been

shown to increase suicidal thoughts and behavior in

teenagers and children, and the Food and Drug

Administration in 2004 ordered that the medications carry

the strictest warning on their labels.

The first such drug was Eli Lilly’s Prozac, approved by

the FDA in 1987. A message left for Mark , a Lilly

spokesman, was not immediately returned. Alspach, a

spokeswoman for GlaxoKline, the London-based maker of

Paxil, declined to comment because no one at the company

had had the opportunity to review the study.

Cosgrove and her five collaborators analyzed 26

epidemiological and 35 preclinical studies conducted

between 1965 and 2010 that tested for a link between

antidepressants and breast or ovarian cancer.

The increase in the risk of cancer was based on a

meta-analysis of the 26 epidemiological studies. The

Harvard project reanalyzed the studies to see whether the

combined data would give a clearer picture of the risk.

The individual studies had mixed results. One published

in 2000 by Dr. Cotterchio of the University of

Toronto showed that compared with no antidepressant use,

the breast-cancer risk for women who took tricyclic drugs

(an older class of treatments) for more than two years

doubled. Women taking paroxetine (branded as Paxil) faced

a sevenfold increase, according to the same report.