Posted by Larry Hoover on June 28, 2009, at 22:16:37
In reply to Re: SSRI's and sudden cardiac death » bulldog2, posted by linkadge on June 28, 2009, at 21:05:53
> >Your more likely to die from depression and >anxiety than side effects of a drug.
>
> Well, thats what this not study was suggesting. It suggested that, even when you account for the effect of depression, antidepressant use is still associated with an elevated risk of dying from sudden cardiac death.
>
> LinkadgeI disagree that the study says that at all. Two proxy variables for depression, the MHI-5 score, and antidepressant use, were analyzed. The one that correlated more highly with a clinical diagnosis of depression was also correlated more highly with sudden cardiac death. When they adjusted for other cardiac risk factors, the association of SCD with the proxy depression variable remained. That does not indicate that the particular proxy variable, antidepressant use, had anything to do with the outcome.
If variable A causes outcomes B and C, B and C will be correlated despite there being no causal relationship between B and C. In this instance, variable A is depression, which leads to B, antidepressant use, and C, sudden cardiac death.
In fact, this study did not find any increased risk of sudden cardiac death with antidepressant use when not simultaneously correlated with a diagnosis of depression. I'd say that pretty much rules out the antidepressant having any real contribution to sudden cardiac death.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:903591
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090620/msgs/903693.html