Covid Patients Taking Antidepressant May Have Lower Death Risk

(Bloomberg) -- A common antidepressant appears to reduce the risk of death in patients admitted to the hospital with severe Covid-19, according to a study published in the JAMA Network Open journal.

About 9.8% of the 470 Covid-19 patients in the study who were taking fluoxetine, also sold under the brand name Prozac, died. That’s compared to over 13% of patients with similar characteristics not receiving any antidepressants. 

A recent trial in Brazil showed fluvoxamine, another antidepressant, may reduce the risk that a patient with Covid-19 ends up in the hospital. The antidepressant was chosen to be studied as a potential treatment for Covid-19 due to its anti-inflammatory properties. It’s also cheaper than Merck & Co.’s new antiviral for Covid-19.

“Although further studies are needed, this raises the prospect of repurposing these antidepressants as treatments for Covid-19,” said Allan Young, director of Centre for Affective Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London, who reviewed the study.

Fluoxetine and fluvoxamine have been safely used for almost 30 years as treatments for mental health conditions such as depression and obsessive-compulsive disorders. They are part of the most commonly prescribed type of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs, which ease symptoms by increasing serotonin levels in the brain.

Another reviewer of the study said it’s observational and too small to give evidence of cause and effect. Other limitations include the fact that records on previous health conditions were not available for all patients, said Kevin McConway, Emeritus Professor of Applied Statistics at The Open University.

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