Antidepressant Use Linked To Superbug Infections

According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, depression is a common illness that can affect anyone. About one in 20 Americans—more than 11 million people—suffers from depression every year. The condition is found twice as often in women as in men. Many individuals who suffer from depression take antidepressants. All medicines have both benefits and risks and antidepressants are no exception. According to a new study, people who take certain antidepressants are at increased risk for superbug infections. Researchers affiliated with the University of Michigan published their findings on May 7 in BioMed Central’s open access journal BMC Medicine.

The investigators noted that a previous study found a possible link between the use of antidepressant medications and the risk of developing Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), CDI is one of the most common infections acquired by patients at hospitals; furthermore, it has been occurring with more and more frequency, resulting in the deaths of 14,000 individuals in the United States each year. The researchers designed two new studies with the objective of evaluating whether depression or the use of antidepressants altered the risk of developing CDI. , using two distinct datasets and study designs...