Friday July 4, 2014 (foodconsumer.org) -- Taking antidepressants for a long term may increase risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus, a study recently published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry suggests.

Researchers at National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan conducted the population-based case-control study and found taking antidepressants for more than two years associated with 20% increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

In the study, 47,885 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were compared with 95,770 controls for their use of antidepressant medications.

The study also revealed that increasing daily dose or use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or serotonin antagonist and reuptake inhibitors was correlated with increased diabetes mellitus risk.

Among the patients taking antidepressant medications for a long term, the younger ones(40 years old or younger ) were at 139% increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus, compared to 15% in older patients.

The study concluded "long-term antidepressant use may be associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus, especially for young adults. Therefore, long-term antidepressant use should be evaluated more cautiously for its benefits and the potential risk of diabetes."  (David Liu, PHD)

Wu CS, Gau SS, Lai MS  Long-term antidepressant use and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus: a population-based, nested case-control study in Taiwan  The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry [2014, 75(1):31-8