Fatal toxicity of antidepressants in England and Wales, 1993-2002

Abstract

This article examines trends in drug poisoning deaths involving antidepressant drugs between 1993 and 2002 in England and Wales as a whole and focuses particularly on the relationship between antidepressant prescribing and deaths in England. Between 1993 and 2002, age-standardised mortality rates in England and Wales decreased from about 9 to 7 per million population for both males and females. However, unlike females, rates in males rose to a peak of 12 per million in 1997 before declining. During the study period, the number of prescription items for antidepressants increased two and a half fold, largely due to increased use of selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors and other antidepressants. Overall, death rates in England, per million prescription items, declined over the study period, with reductions in the rates for Dothiepin, Amitriptyline and all tricyclic antidepressants. There was no change in the rate for selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors while rates for other antidepressants increased. Despite these trends, through all the study period rates were highest for tricyclic antidepressants and lowest for selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors.