Suicidal risk during controlled clinical investigations of fluvoxamine

Suicide is a serious risk factor in major depressive disorder. Paradoxical emergence of suicidal ideation or behavior during antidepressant treatment has been reported in isolated cases. An evaluation was undertaken to assess the risk of suicidality during treatment with fluvoxamine, a serotonin selective reuptake inhibitor.

Meta-analyses were conducted on pooled data from double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel-group clinical trials. The primary outcome measure was the suicide item of the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. Tests for emergence of substantial suicidal ideation and improvement or worsening in suicidal ideation were performed using the Mantel-Haenszel adjusted incidence difference. The Breslow-Day test was used to test for lack of homogeneity across trials. Secondary analysis, which consisted of Pearson's chi-square test, was used to confirm the Mantel-Haenszel result.

In comparison to placebo, fluvoxamine was associated with significantly greater improvement in suicidal ideation (p = .01) and significantly less worsening of suicidal ideation (p < .01). No differences were found in the emergence of substantial suicidal ideation.

These findings demonstrate that fluvoxamine is not associated with an increased risk of emergence of substantial suicidal thoughts among depressed patients. On the contrary, the results are suggestive of a protective effect of fluvoxamine upon the risk of suicidal ideation.