Antidepressants and dementia

TY - JOUR

T1 - Antidepressants and dementia

AU - Kessing, Lars Vedel

AU - Søndergaard, Lars

AU - Forman, Julie Lyng

AU - Andersen, Per Kragh

AU - Kessing, Lars Vedel

AU - Søndergård, Lars

AU - Forman, Julie Lyng

AU - Andersen, Per Kragh

N1 - Keywords: Adult; Age Distribution; Aged; Alzheimer Disease; Antidepressive Agents; Comorbidity; Dementia; Denmark; Depressive Disorder; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Prevalence; Registries; Risk; Time

PY - 2009

Y1 - 2009

N2 - BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that antidepressants may have neuroprotective abilities but it has newer been investigated lately whether treatment with antidepressants reduces the risk of dementia. METHOD: Linkage of registers of all prescribed antidepressants and diagnoses of dementia in Denmark during a period from 1995 to 2005. RESULTS: Persons who purchased antidepressants once (N=687,552) had an increased rate of dementia compared to persons unexposed to antidepressants (N=779,831). Nevertheless, the rate of dementia changed over time; thus during the initial prescription periods the rate increased with the number of prescriptions but continued long-term antidepressants treatment was associated with a reduction in the rate of dementia, however, not to the same level as the rate for the general population. This pattern was found for all classes of antidepressants (SSRIs, newer non-SSRI antidepressants and older antidepressants). All findings were replicated in sub-analyses with Alzheimer's disease as outcome. LIMITATIONS: Methodological reasons for the findings cannot be excluded due to the non-randomized nature of data. CONCLUSIONS: Continued long-term antidepressant treatment was associated with a reduced rate of dementia, however, not to the same level as the rate for the general population.

AB - BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that antidepressants may have neuroprotective abilities but it has newer been investigated lately whether treatment with antidepressants reduces the risk of dementia. METHOD: Linkage of registers of all prescribed antidepressants and diagnoses of dementia in Denmark during a period from 1995 to 2005. RESULTS: Persons who purchased antidepressants once (N=687,552) had an increased rate of dementia compared to persons unexposed to antidepressants (N=779,831). Nevertheless, the rate of dementia changed over time; thus during the initial prescription periods the rate increased with the number of prescriptions but continued long-term antidepressants treatment was associated with a reduction in the rate of dementia, however, not to the same level as the rate for the general population. This pattern was found for all classes of antidepressants (SSRIs, newer non-SSRI antidepressants and older antidepressants). All findings were replicated in sub-analyses with Alzheimer's disease as outcome. LIMITATIONS: Methodological reasons for the findings cannot be excluded due to the non-randomized nature of data. CONCLUSIONS: Continued long-term antidepressant treatment was associated with a reduced rate of dementia, however, not to the same level as the rate for the general population.

U2 - 10.1016/j.jad.2008.11.020

DO - 10.1016/j.jad.2008.11.020

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0165-0327

VL - 117

SP - 24

EP - 29

JO - Journal of Affective Disorders

JF - Journal of Affective Disorders

IS - 1

ER -