In continuing coverage, the New York Times (9/30, Bakalar, Subscription Publication) reported, “Hormonal contraceptives are associated with an increased risk for depression,” researchers found after studying “more than a million women ages 15 to 34, tracking their contraceptive and antidepressant use from 2000 to 2013,” and excluding “women who before 2000 had used antidepressants or had another psychiatric diagnosis.”
The large study also revealed that “the risk was greater in adolescent girls, but this may be because adolescent girls are especially susceptible to depression.” The findings were published online Sept. 28 in JAMA Psychiatry.
Psychiatric News (9/30) reported, “Former APA President Nada Stotland, MD,” MPH, “said the findings should not result in precipitate action by patients or their physicians.” Even though “the effects are significant, clinicians must compare them to what could happen if women were not on hormonal contraceptives, she added.”
Related Links:
— “Contraceptives Tied to Depression Risk,” NICHOLAS BAKALAR, New York Times, September 30, 2016.