O USO DE ANTIDEPRESSIVOS E O RISCO AUMENTADO DE SUICÍDIO/AUTOCÍDIO: uma revisão de literatura

Abstract

Suicide is the last stage of depression, and antidepressants (ATDs) are drugs created with the aim of preventing the disease from advancing to more critical stages. However, in 2004, a study conducted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found an association between the use of ATDs and increased risks of suicidal behavior/ideation in users. Thus, several studies were carried out to find out whether this statement is still plausible, as new antidepressants were created during this period and, in addition, ATDs are still the gold standard treatment in the most severe forms of depression, in this sense, the analysis of its risk-benefit is of fundamental importance. This study is an integrative literature review, described from 2012 to 2022, using the following databases: PubMed and VHL. The objective of the research was to describe whether the use of antidepressants is associated with a higher risk of suicide in patients. Among the results found in the analysis of 23 articles, 5 drugs were found that were related to a greater probability of developing suicidal behavior/ideation. However, venlafaxine showed a connection with self-cide much better than the others, and in a qualitative sense, it was the drug with the most evidence. Therefore, the study was not so conclusive due to difficulties in analyzing secondary data. Most of the data collected require greater methodological rigor, moreover, none of the surveys covered a difference between population groups, other than age, showing low variety in the studies.