Letters
Depression, antidepressants, and accidents
EDITOR,--J Guy Edwards states that no epidemiological data exist to support the view that substituting newer antidepressants for older tricyclic drugs would lead to fewer accidents.1 In a study of deaths in road traffic accidents tricyclic antidepressants were found in a low proportion of body fluids of accident victims (0.2%) compared with the proportions of such fluids containing alcohol (35%) or other drugs likely to affect the central nervous system (7.4%).2 Further studies would certainly need to show that substitution with reversible inhibitors of monoamine oxidase A and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors could improve on this comparatively low figure.
Section 4 of the 1988 Road Traffic Act states that "a person, who, when driving or attempting to drive a motor vehicle on a road or other public place, is unfit to drive through drink or drugs is guilty of an offence" and makes no distinction between prescribed drugs and misuse
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- Depression, antidepressants, and accidents
- J Guy Edwards
BMJ 1995 311: 887-888.[Extract] [Full Text]
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