The use of antidepressants is likely to account for only a fraction of the fall in suicide rates among middle aged and older people, suggests a large study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
Rates have been falling in many countries, a factor that has been associated with better recognition of depression and the increasing use of antidepressants, particularly the newer selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
Scandinavian and US research has suggested that a fivefold increase in the use of antidepressants could lead to a 25% decrease in suicide rates, with SSRIs having saved as many as upwards of 33,000 lives.
But research involving more than 2 million Danes aged 50 and above and living in Denmark between 1996 and 2000 throws this into question.
The researchers assessed changes in the numbers of middle aged and older people committing suicide during this period and the types of antidepressant drugs they had been prescribed.
Only one in five of those committing suicide was actually taking antidepressants at the time of death.
Suicide rates in older men fell by almost 10 per 100,000 of the population during this timeframe, but among recipients of antidepressants, the fall was less than one.
For older women, only 0.4 of the 3.3 fall per 100,000 of the population was accounted for by those being treated with antidepressants.
Suicide rates were five to six times higher among those taking antidepressants than those who were not.
J Epidemiol Commun Health 2008; 62: 448–54