United States: Antidepressant prescriptions have grown substantially worldwide in the last two decades because they manage depression along with anxiety symptoms as well as other medical conditions.
Tremendous treatment success rates of antidepressants alongside improved life quality raise concerns about their long-term administration since it creates worries about additional effects, enhanced medical dependency, and adverse mental health outcomes.
Rise in Antidepressant Use
The usage of antidepressants for more than a year seems to increase the risk of heart-related deaths.
Symptoms leading to sudden cardiac death occur within one hour, but in rare situations, the death happens within a twenty-four-hour period.
Antidepressants Linked to Sudden Cardiac Death Risk
— Tessa💜🐒 (@DrTessaT) April 3, 2025
After adjusting for age, sex, and comorbidities, including ischemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes and arrhythmias, the risk for SCD was 56% higher in those with 1-5 years of exposure to… pic.twitter.com/6fJmiz9ayD
People over 39 years usually develop heart muscle enlargement as their main death factor, but elderly patients usually face blood vessel narrowing as their primary cause, theweek.in reported.
Research investigators in Denmark studied death occurrences throughout 2010 among residents between the ages of 18 and 90 years.
Long-Term Risks
The research demonstrated that antidepressant medication exposure created a higher frequency of sudden cardiac deaths among patients when compared to antidepressant-free cases.
The research demonstrated that people taking antidepressants faced greater sudden cardiac death risks at every life stage, though the duration of treatment usage demonstrated significant risk variations (ANI reported).
Sudden cardiac death rates for individuals between 30-39 years old increased by three times when they took antidepressants between one and five years, theweek.in reported.
Link Between Antidepressants and Heart Deaths
People using antidepressants for at least six years experience a sudden cardiac death risk that is five times higher than the general population.
A person between 50 and 59 years old faces double the risk of sudden cardiac death when using antidepressants for 1 to 5 years, while exposure for six or more years raises the risk by four times.