Diagnosis, Use of Antiepileptic Drugs, and Risk for Suicide

In an FDA meta-analysis of randomized, controlled, clinical trials of antiepileptic drugs, AEDs were associated with suicidality. Now, researchers in a manufacturer-funded study have used data on 5,130,795 patients seen in U.K. primary care clinics to examine the role of the underlying diagnosis in this association. Patients with personal or family histories of suicide were excluded. The diagnostic cohorts were epilepsy, bipolar disorder, depression, and none of these three; analyses were restricted to suicide attempts or completions.

As expected, rates of these events were significantly higher in patients with depression or bipolar disorder and slightly higher in patients with epilepsy compared with patients without these diagnoses and with…