Antidepressants are among the most frequently used medications in the United States. According to the National Center for Health Statistics the use and abuse of antidepressants has become a prominent medical and public health issue. Nearly 18% of all adult women and 8% of men in the United States used antidepressant medication between 2015 and 2018.
A 2020 study published in the American Heart Association journal Stroke suggests that use of antidepressants may increase the risk of having a stroke. The study looked at data from 1.1 million U.S. veterans and is the largest-ever investigation of post-traumatic stress disorder and antidepressant-associated stroke risk in young adults. Researchers looked at 13 years of data from young and middle-aged veterans who served in the most recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the results showed that taking SSRI medication (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, the most common type of antidepressant) carried a 45% greater risk of hemorrhagic stroke.
Although the study couldn't answer why SSRIs might increase stroke risk, researcher Allison Gaffey from the Yale School of Medicine said that possible causes could be that the medication can reduce the ability of platelets to clot, can decrease platelet count, and has been associated with bleeding in the stomach. Platelets are specialized disk-shaped cells in the bloodstream and are involved in the formation of blood clots, which play an important role in heart attacks, strokes and peripheral vascular disease.
SNRI medication (serotonin-norepinephire reuptake inhibitors), an alternative type of antidepressant, did not seem to indicate a similar risk and so may be the safer choice for those who require the medication.
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