According to one researcher affiliated with Harvard University, scientists should spend more time examining the link between ovarian and breast cancer and SSRI medications like Paxil. The researcher, who reviewed 61 different studies, suggested that the controversial antidepressant increases the chances of patients getting cancer.
One report that analyzed older information and published in PLoS ONE said that the risk of cancer got higher by 11 percent for the patients that were taking SSRIs. Researchers also found that 20 of the studies conducted identified a link between the medications and increased risk of cancer.
In the report, the investigators of the research said, “Reviewing the evidence is a critical public health issue in light of the increasing prevalence of AD use, especially among women, and in light of the fact that one in eight women will be diagnosed with cancer of the breast during their lifetime.”
Lisa Cosgrove, a research lab fellow at Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, led the review. She said that the information in the findings shows that there is a real need for more information to be gathered with more studies being conducted on SSRI use in women. Even more interesting is that Cosgrove also said that she would rather try a non-drug treatment if she experienced even mild depression now she has seen the information linking antidepressants like Paxil to cancer.
Drugs like Paxil have been associated with all sorts of adverse side effects that have caused many patients to file lawsuits against drug makers claiming that drug makers are hiding the risks from the public and physicians when they are put on the market. Most recently, studies have shown that while Paxil and other SSRIs work in severe cases of depression, they also have the same effects as placebos in dealing with mild cases of depression. That information suggests that SSRIs aren’t even necessary, and that the risks far outweigh the benefits in taking the drugs.
