Dosulepin increases the risk of heart disease

Patients who have taken dosulepin (dothiepin) have a significantly increased risk of ischaemic heart disease, a general practice based case-control study has found (Hippisley-Cox and colleagues, p 666). The association was maintained after adjustment for confounding by hypertension, diabetes, body mass index, and smoking status and for use of other antidepressants. There was also evidence of a dose-response relation. The authors estimate that about 50 patients would have to be treated with dosulepin for a year for one patient to be harmed. Other antidepressants had no significant effects after adjustment for confounding factors.

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    StumbleUpon    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Antidepressants as risk factor for ischaemic heart disease: case-control study in primary care

Julia Hippisley-Cox, Mike Pringle, Vicky Hammersley, Nicola Crown, Alison Wynn, Andy Meal, and Carol Coupland
BMJ 2001 323: 666-669. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]