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Surveillance programs examining adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular consequences of antidepressant medications have produced conflicting signals. Using a Taiwanese national claims database, researchers identified 24,214 stroke patients (mean age at stroke, 69) who received at least one antidepressant prescription in the year before stroke. The study employed a case-crossover design, comparing stroke rates when subjects were or were not using antidepressants; patients served as their own controls.
After adjustment for health system use and psychiatric and general medications, the risk for stroke was significantly higher for patients using antidepressants only in days 1 to 14 before stroke than for those exposed in the preceding 2-week …