title: Antidepressant drugs and teenage suicide in Hungary: Time trend and seasonality analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the present study was to analyze the relationship between increasing utilization of antidepressants and lithium, and suicide rate of persons less than 20 years of age in Hungary, with particular regard to seasonal patterns.
  
  
  METHODS
  Time trend analysis was carried out to determine the correlation between antidepressant and lithium prescription patterns in Hungarian persons under age of 20 years as well as seasonal variations within the study period from January 1998 to December 2006.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a significant correlation (P = 0.03) between the eight-fold increase in antidepressant + lithium prescriptions and decreasing suicides in young Hungarian people under 20 years of age within the study period. Lithium, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and the group of "other antidepressant drugs" rather than nonselective monoamine reuptake inhibitors and monoamine oxidase-A inhibitors were responsible for this association. No significant association could be drawn from seasonal variation with boys (P = 0.964), girls (P = 0.140), or both genders (P = 0.997).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Ecological study design.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings are in good agreement with large-scale ecological studies showing that the beneficial effect of more widely used antidepressants at a given point could appear on the level of suicide rate of the general population even among patients under the age of 20 years.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics , School of Public Health, University of Debrecen, Medical and Health Science Center , Debrecen , Hungary.
authors.forename: Ekundayo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Otuyelu
authors.forename: Anett
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Foldvari
authors.forename: Edit
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Szabo
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sipos
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Edafiogho
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Szucs
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dome
authors.forename: Zoltan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Rihmer
authors.forename: Janos
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sandor
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006814:Hungary / Q000453:epidemiology; D018020:Lithium Compounds; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D012621:Seasons; D013405:Suicide / Q000639:trends*
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D018020:Lithium Compounds
keywords: Antidepressant agents; Food and Drug Administration (FDA); children and adolescents; lithium; seasonality; suicide