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Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2000;57:325-326.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

A QUICK scan of the article by Kahn et al¹ might lead the casual reader to conclude that antidepressant treatment does not reduce the risk of suicide. However, a careful analysis of the data shows that any such conclusion would be unfortunate and unsubstantiated, and that several important questions remain unanswered.

The article examines data from clinical trials that were submitted to the Food and Drug Administration as parts of 5 successful applications for indications in the treatment of depression. Among the 19 639 patients who participated in the trials, 34 committed suicide during the 4- to 8-week periods in which the trials were conducted. The authors, assuming a completely linear event-time relationship, converted this into an estimated annual rate of 757 suicides per 100 000 depressed patients treated with 1 of the 5 antidepressants. This suicide rate is nearly 70 times higher than the rate in the general population. . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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