More than a quarter of people in the US who take anti--depressants have never been diagnosed with any of the conditions the drugs are typically used to treat, according to a study.
As a result, millions could be exposed to side effects from the medicines without proven health benefits, said Jina Pagura, a psychologist and currently a medical student at the University of Manitoba in Canada, and colleagues who worked on the study.
“We cannot be sure that the risks and side effects of anti--depressants are worth the benefit of taking them for people who do not meet criteria for major depression,” Pagura said in an e-mail.
For the study, published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, Pagura and colleagues tapped into data from the Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiologic Surveys, which include a nationally representative sample of more than 20,000 US adults interviewed between 2001 and 2003.
Roughly one in ten people told interviewers they had been taking anti-depressants during the previous year, yet a quarter of those people had never been diagnosed with any of the conditions that doctors usually treat with the medications, such as major depression and anxiety disorder.
“These individuals are likely approaching their physicians with concerns that may be related to depression, and could include symptoms like trouble sleeping, poor mood, difficulties in relationships, etc,” Pagura said.
“Although an antidepressant might help with these issues, the problems may also go away on their own with time, or might be more amenable to counseling or psychotherapy.”
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, nearly 15 million people in the US suffer from major depression, and 40 million more have anxiety disorders.
Although the survey did not include all mental illnesses that might have led doctors to prescribe an antidepressant, other experts said the latest findings are not exaggerated.
“Reviews of claims records, which are diagnoses actually given by health care professionals, suggest that only about 50 percent of patients who are prescribed anti-depressants receive a psychiatric diagnosis,” said Mark Olfson, a psychiatrist at Columbia University in New York.
With sales of US$9.9 billion in 2009, up 3 percent from the previous year, anti-depressants rank fourth among prescription drugs in the US, said IMS Health, a company that analyzes the pharmaceutical industry.
While studies have shown the drugs may help some people with depression, they come with a price tag — and not only the US$100 or more that a month’s supply can cost. Some users experience sexual problems or gain weight.
However, it is still not easy to say if anti-depressants are being over-prescribed as a blanket statement, health experts said.
“There are undoubtedly many people being prescribed anti--depressants that may not be effective for them, but there are also millions of Americans suffering from depression who are not being prescribed anti--depressants or are being prescribed them at a suboptimal dose,” said Jeffrey Harman, who lectures in health services at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the