Escitalopram (Lexapro) Approved for Children Despite Increased Suicide Risk
November 5, 2023
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5:33Now PlayingEscitalopram (Lexapro) Approved for Children Despite Increased Suicide Risk
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Parents and doctors need to be aware of the increased suicide risk associated with Lexapro use in children. Parents should also be vigilant for signs of suicidal thinking and behavior in their children, and seek professional help immediately if they are concerned.
In a startling development, the FDA has extended the approval of the SSRI drug Lexapro to include children aged seven and older who report anxiety. This decision was based on a small study that showed a statistically significant difference of only 1.42 points on a 30-point anxiety scale between the drug and placebo groups. However, the study also found that nine and a half percent of the children who took Lexapro became suicidal, while only one and a half percent of those in the placebo group did. This is a six-fold increase in suicide risk.
Despite this alarming finding, the authors of the study asserted that Lexapro is "well tolerated" in pediatric patients. Notably, the study was funded and conducted by the pharmaceutical company that manufactures Lexapro, and the authors included employees of the company and its contractors.
This is a major public health concern. When doctors are presented with this information, they are likely to embrace the authors' conclusions as firmly established scientific fact. They may also be influenced by the pharmaceutical industry's aggressive marketing of Lexapro as a first-line treatment for anxiety in children.
This is how falsehoods spread and mental health crises take root. Innocent children are losing their lives because of this.
A Multicenter Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Escitalopram in Children and Adolescents with Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Jeffrey R. Strawn, Leslie Moldauer, Rebekah D. Hahn, Alexandria Wise, Kristina Bertzos, Beth Eisenberg, Edward Greenberg, Chengcheng Liu, Mallika Gopalkrishnan, Molly McVoy, and James A. Knutson
Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology 2023 33:3, 91-100
#informeddecisions #Lexapro #Escitalopram #FDAapproval #children #anxiety #pharmaceuticalindustry #researchbias #ghostwriting #conflictofinterest #mentalhealth #parents
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