Hyponatremia in Older Patients Who Begin Second-Generation Antidepressants

So-called second-generation antidepressants have been associated with hyponatremia, attributed to the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone (SIADH). In this population-based Canadian study, researchers used several Ontario databases to estimate short-term risk for hyponatremia in older adults (age, ≥65) who were diagnosed with mood or anxiety disorders and received first prescriptions for citalopram, escitalopram, fluoxetine, paroxetine, fluvoxamine, venlafaxine, duloxetine, mirtazapine, or sertraline. Propensity-score matching identified 138,000 patients who were started on one of these drugs and 138,000 clinically and demographically similar patients who did not receive them.

The 30-day incidence of hospitalization with hyponatrem…