Citation

Khan A, Leventhal RM, Khan S, Brown WA. J. Affect. Disord. 2002; 68(2-3): 183-190.

Affiliation

Northwest Clinical Research Center, 1900-116th Avenue NE 112, Bellevue, WA 98004, USA. arif@accessone.com

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12063146

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Previous reports of suicide risk in patients with anxiety disorders have been inconsistent. METHODS: Using the FDA database, we assessed suicide and suicide attempt risk among patients, participating in recent clinical trials evaluating new anti-anxiety medications, with diagnosis of panic disorder (PD), social anxiety disorder or social phobia (SP), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). RESULTS: Overall, among 20076 participating anxious patients, 12 committed suicide and 28 attempted suicide. The annual suicide risk rate was 193/100000 patients and annual suicide attempt risk was 1350/100000 patients. LIMITATIONS: Clinical trial data have limited applicability to clinical practice. Participants in clinical trials are a highly selected, nonrepresentative sample of the clinical population. A number of patients never complete clinical trials and thus data are based on a limited sub-sample. These trials were not primarily designed to assess suicide risk. CONCLUSIONS: Suicide risk in patients with anxiety disorders is higher than previously thought. Patients with anxiety disorders warrant explicit evaluation for suicide risk.

Language: en