Fluoxetine: a suitable long-term treatment

A review of fluoxetine's safety profile, especially during long-term treatment, is presented. Key safety advantages for fluoxetine include lower adverse events and dropout rates compared with tricyclic antidepressants and other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), safety in overdose, and safe use in special population groups such as women in pregnancy. Prospectively ascertained pregnancy outcomes following exposure to SSRIs, mainly fluoxetine, consistently show no teratogenic effects as assessed in the postnatal period and in comparison with controls. An additional advantage of fluoxetine is the absence or mildness of discontinuation symptoms following treatment interruption, probably a consequence of fluoxetine's long half-life in comparison with other SSRIs. The available data on these topics confirm the suitability of long-term fluoxetine treatment.