Antidepressants Celexa, Lexapro Tied to Irregular Heartbeat: Study
Antidepressants Celexa, Lexapro Tied to Irregular Heartbeat: Study
TUESDAY, Jan. 29 (HealthDay News) -- People taking certain antidepressants, including Celexa and Lexapro, may have a slightly increased risk of developing an abnormal heart beat.
Researchers say the drugs, which are in a class of medications called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), may extend the length of electrical activity in the heart, called a QT interval. A long QT interval is an indicator of abnormal heart rhythms.
"For people who are taking higher doses of citalopram (Celexa) or escitalopram (Lexapro), they should discuss these doses with their doctors," said lead researcher Dr. Roy Perlis, director of the Center for Experimental Drugs and Diagnostics in the psychiatry department at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
"They should absolutely not just stop their medicine," he added.
QT interval is just one indicator of cardiac risk, so there are many other factors to consider in choosing a depression treatment, Perlis said. "It's important to know that there are other medicines which appear to be safe in terms of effects on heart rhythm," he added.
The report was published in the Jan. 29 online edition of the journal BMJ.
Doctors use an electrocardiogram (ECG) to measure the QT interval. The interval varies with heart rate, lengthening when the heart beats slower and shortening when the heart beats faster.
The normal QT interval for men is less than 420 milliseconds and for women it is less than 440 milliseconds. When the timing gets longer, the risk for abnormal heart rhythms increases, the researchers noted.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned recently that Celexa and drugs like it could cause this problem.
To shed light on the matter, Perlis' team collected data on more than 38,000 adults who had an ECG after using antidepressants or methadone between February 1990 and August 2011. They found patients taking Celexa, Lexapro, Elavil (amitriptyline) and methadone had a small but significantly longer QT interval. This effect grew as dosage increased, they noted.
Nearly one in five patients taking these drugs had longer QT intervals, the study found. Whether this effect is clinically significant, however, isn't known.
Slideshow: The Truth About Antidepressants
Researchers say the drugs, which are in a class of medications called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), may extend the length of electrical activity in the heart, called a QT interval. A long QT interval is an indicator of abnormal heart rhythms.
"For people who are taking higher doses of citalopram (Celexa) or escitalopram (Lexapro), they should discuss these doses with their doctors," said lead researcher Dr. Roy Perlis, director of the Center for Experimental Drugs and Diagnostics in the psychiatry department at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
"They should absolutely not just stop their medicine," he added.
QT interval is just one indicator of cardiac risk, so there are many other factors to consider in choosing a depression treatment, Perlis said. "It's important to know that there are other medicines which appear to be safe in terms of effects on heart rhythm," he added.
The report was published in the Jan. 29 online edition of the journal BMJ.
Doctors use an electrocardiogram (ECG) to measure the QT interval. The interval varies with heart rate, lengthening when the heart beats slower and shortening when the heart beats faster.
The normal QT interval for men is less than 420 milliseconds and for women it is less than 440 milliseconds. When the timing gets longer, the risk for abnormal heart rhythms increases, the researchers noted.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned recently that Celexa and drugs like it could cause this problem.
To shed light on the matter, Perlis' team collected data on more than 38,000 adults who had an ECG after using antidepressants or methadone between February 1990 and August 2011. They found patients taking Celexa, Lexapro, Elavil (amitriptyline) and methadone had a small but significantly longer QT interval. This effect grew as dosage increased, they noted.
Nearly one in five patients taking these drugs had longer QT intervals, the study found. Whether this effect is clinically significant, however, isn't known.
Slideshow: The Truth About Antidepressants
