SSRI prescribing restrictions have not decreased suicide rates

International regulatory action to restrict the prescribing of SSRIs to young people appears to have done little to decrease the rates of youth suicide across the world, and may even be associated with increased rates among young women. A study examining the World Heath Organisation data on youth suicide found that world-wide regulatory warnings during 2003 and 2004 on the prescribing of SSRIs to children and teenagers did not decrease the rates of youth suicide, despite the fact that they decreased the prescription of SSRIs. Overall, the study found that most of the 23 nations included in the study saw suicide rates in the period between 2004 and 2006 that were in line with the overall trends since 1990. “[We found] no clear beneficial effect on youth suicide rates following regulatory actions,” the study’s authors wrote in Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety....