New Delhi, March 30 Researchers on Sunday showed that compared with the general population with no history of antidepressant (AD) use, individuals with a history of AD use have an increased risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD), which varies based on age and time of exposure.
The causes in people under the age of 39 are often a thickening of the heart muscle or an electrical problem with the heart. In older people, SCD is more likely to be caused by a narrowing of the blood vessels that supply the heart.
Previous research has shown that patients with psychiatric disorders have an increased all-cause mortality as well as double the risk of sudden cardiac death across all age groups.
However, the impact of antidepressant exposure on SCD risk has so far been unclear.
In new research presented at ‘EHRA 2025’, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology, researchers now show that there is a link.
“Exposure time to antidepressants was associated with a higher risk of sudden cardiac death, and linked to how long the person had been exposed to antidepressants,” said study co-author Dr Jasmin Mujkanovic, Rigshospitalet Hjertecentret, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Those exposed for 6 years or more were at even more increased risk than those exposed for 1 to 5 years, when compared with people unexposed to antidepressants in the general population, Mujkanovic added.
In individuals aged 30-39 years, compared with the unexposed general population, those with 1 to 5 years of antidepressant exposure were around three times more likely to suffer sudden cardiac death. This risk increased to five times higher for those with six or more years of AD exposure.
In individuals aged 50-59 years, compared with the unexposed general population, those exposed to antidepressants for 1 to 5 years saw their risk of sudden cardiac death doubled, while individuals exposed to antidepressants for 6 or more years had four times the risk of sudden cardiac death.
The differences in risk associated with varying periods of antidepressant exposure decreased in older groups. In individuals aged 70-79 years compared to the unexposed general population, those with 1-5 years AD exposure had a 1.83 or 83 per cent times increased risk, whereas those with 6 years or more exposure had a 2.2 times increased risk of SCD.
In individuals aged 40-79 years, the SCD incidence rate ratio was significantly higher among persons with 6 or more years of exposure to AD compared to persons with 1-5 years of exposure, the study showed.
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