A new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal finds that heart patients on antiplatelet agents (such as Plavix and aspirin) who are prescribed a class of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are at a greater risk of internal bleeding.
After ten years of following over 27,000 patients aged 50 and older, all of whom had suffered a heart attack at some time in the past, researchers found that adding an SSRI to aspirin increased the risk of bleeding by 42 percent, while a two-pronged antiplatelet therapy combined with an SSRI upped that risk to 57 percent. Types of bleeding included in the study consisted of hemorrhagic stroke (bleeding in the brain), gastrointestinal bleeding, or any other type that required hospitalization or occurred while in the hospital.
Depression post-heart attack is quite common, notes ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. And therefore, the population that is potentially vulnerable to this drug-drug interaction is large. Doctors contemplating putting a heart patient on one of these effective and generally safe antidepressants must monitor them for bleeding, as well as warn them about this potential complication.
