title: Cardiovascular adverse reactions during antidepressant treatment: a drug surveillance report of German-speaking countries between 1993 and 2010.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Antidepressants (ADs) are known to have the potential to cause various cardiovascular adverse drug reactions (ADRs). The tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) were first revealed to be a possible source of cardiovascular ADRs. In recent years, newer classes of ADs were also suggested to have a higher risk of cardiovascular adverse effects. In particular, the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were suspected to have the potential to induce QTc interval prolongation, and therefore increase the risk of ventricular arrhythmia. This descriptive study is based on the continuous pharmacovigilance program of German-speaking countries (Austria, Germany, and Switzerland), the Arzneimittelsicherheit in der Psychiatrie (AMSP), which assesses severe ADRs occurring in clinical routine situations.
  
  
  METHODS
  Of 169,278 psychiatric inpatients treated with ADs between 1993 and 2010, 198 cases of cardiovascular ADRs (0.12%) were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our study showed that the incidence rates of cardiovascular ADRs were highest during treatment with monoamine oxidase inhibitors (0.27%), TCAs (0.15%), and serotonin noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (0.14%); the risk of occurring during treatment with SSRIs (0.08%) was significantly lower. The noradrenergic and specific serotonergic AD mirtazapine (0.07%) had a significantly lower risk of cardiovascular ADRs than all other ADs. Severe hypotension was the most frequent ADR, followed by hypertension, arrhythmia, and in some rare cases heart failure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite certain limitations due to the AMSP study design, our observations on cardiovascular ADRs can contribute to a better knowledge of the cardiovascular risk profiles of antidepressants in the clinical routine setting. However, prospective studies are needed to verify our findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria (Drs Spindelegger, Papageorgiou, Konstantinidis, and Kasper); Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Germany (Dr Agelink); Psychiatric Private Hospital, Sanatorium Kilchberg, Switzerland (Dr Greil); Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Germany (Drs Bleich and Toto); Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany (Drs Grohmann, Engel, Greil, and Ruether).
authors.forename: Christoph Josef
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Spindelegger
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria (Drs Spindelegger, Papageorgiou, Konstantinidis, and Kasper); Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Germany (Dr Agelink); Psychiatric Private Hospital, Sanatorium Kilchberg, Switzerland (Dr Greil); Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Germany (Drs Bleich and Toto); Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany (Drs Grohmann, Engel, Greil, and Ruether).
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Papageorgiou
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria (Drs Spindelegger, Papageorgiou, Konstantinidis, and Kasper); Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Germany (Dr Agelink); Psychiatric Private Hospital, Sanatorium Kilchberg, Switzerland (Dr Greil); Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Germany (Drs Bleich and Toto); Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany (Drs Grohmann, Engel, Greil, and Ruether).
authors.forename: Renate
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Grohmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria (Drs Spindelegger, Papageorgiou, Konstantinidis, and Kasper); Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Germany (Dr Agelink); Psychiatric Private Hospital, Sanatorium Kilchberg, Switzerland (Dr Greil); Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Germany (Drs Bleich and Toto); Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany (Drs Grohmann, Engel, Greil, and Ruether).
authors.forename: Rolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Engel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria (Drs Spindelegger, Papageorgiou, Konstantinidis, and Kasper); Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Germany (Dr Agelink); Psychiatric Private Hospital, Sanatorium Kilchberg, Switzerland (Dr Greil); Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Germany (Drs Bleich and Toto); Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany (Drs Grohmann, Engel, Greil, and Ruether).
authors.forename: Waldemar
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Greil
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria (Drs Spindelegger, Papageorgiou, Konstantinidis, and Kasper); Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Germany (Dr Agelink); Psychiatric Private Hospital, Sanatorium Kilchberg, Switzerland (Dr Greil); Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Germany (Drs Bleich and Toto); Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany (Drs Grohmann, Engel, Greil, and Ruether).
authors.forename: Anastasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Konstantinidis
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria (Drs Spindelegger, Papageorgiou, Konstantinidis, and Kasper); Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Germany (Dr Agelink); Psychiatric Private Hospital, Sanatorium Kilchberg, Switzerland (Dr Greil); Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Germany (Drs Bleich and Toto); Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany (Drs Grohmann, Engel, Greil, and Ruether).
authors.forename: Marcus Willy
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Agelink
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria (Drs Spindelegger, Papageorgiou, Konstantinidis, and Kasper); Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Germany (Dr Agelink); Psychiatric Private Hospital, Sanatorium Kilchberg, Switzerland (Dr Greil); Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Germany (Drs Bleich and Toto); Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany (Drs Grohmann, Engel, Greil, and Ruether).
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bleich
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria (Drs Spindelegger, Papageorgiou, Konstantinidis, and Kasper); Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Germany (Dr Agelink); Psychiatric Private Hospital, Sanatorium Kilchberg, Switzerland (Dr Greil); Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Germany (Drs Bleich and Toto); Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany (Drs Grohmann, Engel, Greil, and Ruether).
authors.forename: Eckart
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ruether
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria (Drs Spindelegger, Papageorgiou, Konstantinidis, and Kasper); Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Germany (Dr Agelink); Psychiatric Private Hospital, Sanatorium Kilchberg, Switzerland (Dr Greil); Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Germany (Drs Bleich and Toto); Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany (Drs Grohmann, Engel, Greil, and Ruether).
authors.forename: Sermin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Toto
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria (Drs Spindelegger, Papageorgiou, Konstantinidis, and Kasper); Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Preventive Medicine, Ruhr-University of Bochum, Germany (Dr Agelink); Psychiatric Private Hospital, Sanatorium Kilchberg, Switzerland (Dr Greil); Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Germany (Drs Bleich and Toto); Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany (Drs Grohmann, Engel, Greil, and Ruether) biol-psychiatry@meduniwien.ac.at.
authors.forename: Siegfried
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kasper
mesh_terms: D016907:Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems; D000368:Aged; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001317:Austria / Q000453:epidemiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents
keywords: Antidepressant; QT prolongation; SSRI; cardiovascular side effects; tricyclic antidepressant