Antidepressant Success May Be Greatly Exaggerated
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A new review of trials on commonly prescribed antidepressants shows these drugs have only about a 50-50 percent chance of successfully treating depression, despite reports of far higher success rates. The selective publication of almost exclusively positive studies has created highly skewed results, the report reveals.
The review looked at the 74 trials submitted to the FDA between 1987 and 1994 covering 12 common medications including Zoloft, Paxil and Prozac. Reviewers found that all but one study that showed positive findings were published. However, those that showed negative or questionable results were either not published or positioned in such a way that reinterpreted the results as positive in all but three cases. According to studies chosen for publication, the drugs were effective 94 percent of the time. However, when the remaining trials are included, this success rates fell to just 51 percent. Studying individual drugs, researchers found that some claims of efficacy were exaggerated by between 69 percent (Serazone) and 11 percent (Paxil). ABSTRACT: Selective Publication of Antidepressant Trials and Its Influence on Apparent Efficacy SHARE:
Posted In: Depression Research | Bipolar / Manic Depression | Tags: Antidepressants | Efficacy | Paxil | Prozac | Serasone | Study | Zoloft | Posted by FindCounseling.com Staff on January 18, 2008 at 09:35 AM | Permalink |
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