Wednesday, May 21, 2008

No link between treatment with antidepressants and risk of cancer in people with HIV

Treatment with antidepressants does not increase the risk of any kind of cancer in people with HIV, according to a UK study published in the May 10th edition of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The researchers looked at the use of both older tricyclic antidepressants and more modern SSRI antidepressants, such as fluoxetine, by people with HIV in both the period before and after effective anti-HIV treatment became available. No link between the use of antidepressants was found in any time period.

There is conflicting information about the link between use of both tricyclic and SSRI antidepressants and the risk of cancer. Some studies have suggested a link between their use and the risk of some cancers, but others have not. By contrast, some research has suggested that treatment with SSRI antidepressants could have an anti-cancer effect in patients with Burkitt lymphoma.

No study has looked at the link between treatment with tricyclic or SSRI antidepressants and the risk of cancer in people with HIV in either the period before or after effective anti-HIV treatment became available. Nor has any study previously looked for a possible link between cancer and treatment with antidepressants and the individual classes of antiretroviral drugs.

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