THURSDAY, Feb. 16 (HealthDay News) -- A series of negative television programs about the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) paroxetine may have led to a short-term increase in adverse event reports, U.K. researchers report in the February issue of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. Adverse event reports increased from 8.3 to 13.4 per 100,000 prescriptions after the programs aired.
Richard M. Martin, B.M., Ph.D., and colleagues from the University of Bristol in England, analyzed prescribing patterns and reports of adverse events for paroxetine, which is sold under the brand name Seroxat, in the United Kingdom, from 2001 to 2004.
The number of paroxetine prescriptions was initially steady but declined 1.87 percent per month after April 2002, which coincided with a January 2002 warning from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of severe withdrawal symptoms associated with the drug. Prescribing of other SSRIs increased by 1 percent per month until December 2003, after a U.K. review of SSRIs in children, and remained steady afterwards.
A TV program aired negative reports in October 2002, May 2003 and October 2004. Adverse event reports increased after each program aired. Regulatory announcements during the same period only led to an increase of 7.6 to 8.0 reports of adverse events per 100,000 prescriptions.
"Falls in paroxetine and other SSRI prescribing in the U.K. coincided, respectively, with regulatory communications from the U.S.A. and the U.K., but associations may have noncausal or other explanations," Martin and colleagues conclude.
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