Sunday, July 8, 2007

Antidepressant Use May Boost Fracture Risk, From Harvard Women's ...

BOSTON, May 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Evidence is accumulating that depression is a risk factor for osteoporosis, reports the June 2007 issue of Harvard Women's Health Watch. A recent study found that people ages 50 and over who regularly took antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) had double the rate of fractures as people not using such medications. Other research points to depression itself as a source of endocrine changes that can damage bone.

Whether the danger comes from depression, the drugs used to treat it, or something else, doctors are paying more attention to this association. During the 1990s, depression began to emerge as a possible cause of bone loss, rather than a result. Scientists studied women who didn't have osteoporosis symptoms or even know they had the condition.

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