Antidepressant drugs and risk of developing glioma: a national registry-based case control study and a meta-analysis.

in American journal of epidemiology by Charlotte Malmberg, Barbro Numan Hellquist, Sajna Anand Sadanandan, Maria Sandström, Wendy Yi-Ying Wu, Benny Björkblom, Beatrice Melin, Rickard L Sjöberg

TLDR

  • The study looked at whether taking antidepressants could help prevent a type of brain tumor called glioma. They found that people who took antidepressants did not have a higher risk of getting glioma, but a group of studies combined together found that taking antidepressants might slightly lower the risk of getting glioma. However, more research is needed to understand why this might be happening and if it's safe to use antidepressants for this purpose.

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate if use of antidepressants is related to the risk of developing lower (WHO grade 2-3) and higher grade (WHO grade 4) glioma. A registry-based case-control study was performed using 1283 glioma cases and 6400 age-, sex- and geographically matched controls, diagnosed in Sweden 2009-2013. Conditional logistic regression was used to analyze whether Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) or non-SSRIs were associated with the risk of developing lower- or higher-grade glioma in the study population. Our results show that use of antidepressant medication was not associated with the risk of developing glioma. We also performed a meta-analysis in which the dataset from the present study was combined with results from two previous epidemiological studies to answer the same questions. The meta-analysis showed a modest risk reduction of developing glioma in relation to antidepressant treatment (OR 0.90 [95% CI 0.83-0.97]), when all glioma subgroups and all forms of antidepressant medications were combined. In conclusion, it remains possible that antidepressants may have common monoaminergic mechanism(s) that reduce the risk of developing glioma.

Overview

  • The study aimed to investigate the relationship between antidepressant use and the risk of developing lower and higher grade glioma in a registry-based case-control study using 1283 glioma cases and 6400 age-, sex-, and geographically matched controls in Sweden from 2009 to 2013. The study used conditional logistic regression to analyze the association between SSRIs and non-SSRIs with the risk of developing lower- or higher-grade glioma in the study population. The primary objective of the study was to determine if antidepressant medication was associated with the risk of developing glioma.

Comparative Analysis & Findings

  • The study found that use of antidepressant medication was not associated with the risk of developing glioma. However, a meta-analysis combining the dataset from the present study with results from two previous epidemiological studies showed a modest risk reduction of developing glioma in relation to antidepressant treatment (OR 0.90 [95% CI 0.83-0.97]), when all glioma subgroups and all forms of antidepressant medications were combined. This suggests that antidepressants may have common monoaminergic mechanisms that reduce the risk of developing glioma.

Implications and Future Directions

  • The study's findings suggest that antidepressants may have a protective effect against glioma, but more research is needed to confirm this association. Future studies should investigate the underlying mechanisms of this association and explore the potential therapeutic benefits of antidepressants in the treatment of glioma. Additionally, future research should consider the potential risks and side effects of antidepressant use, particularly in vulnerable populations such as the elderly and those with a history of psychiatric disorders.
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