Although the risk is already acknowledged among children and teenagers, the FDA has been studying the risk in adults. The analysis, published ahead of an advisory panel meeting next week, reported the effect in patients up to the age of 25.
The paper said: “When results are analyzed by age it becomes clear that there is an elevated risk for suicidality and suicidal behavior among adults younger than 25 years of age that approaches that seen in the pediatric population.
The net effect appears to be neutral on suicidal behavior but possibly protective for suicidality for adults between the ages of 25 and 64 and to reduce the risk of both suicidality and suicidal behavior in subjects aged 65 years and older.”
Although the FDA said that the effects were generally similar among drugs and drug classes, “the apparent lower risk of suicidality observed with sertraline is consistent enough to be intriguing.” Sertraline is manufactured by Pfizer and marketed as Zoloft in the US. However, the document could offer not explanation as to why this particular drug had a lower risk.
Any possible label changes to antidepressants will be discussed at the advisory panel meeting, with the final decision taken by the FDA, the agency said.