Individuals who use antidepressants do not have an increased risk of dying or requiring acute neurosurgery following a head injury, according to a report in
Neurology.
Why It’s Relevant
There are concerns about the use of
antidepressants in older patients, given that many of these medications (notably SSRIs) are associated with a risk of internal bleeding—leading to the possibility that antidepressant users might develop severe brain bleeding following a fall.
By the Numbers
- Using Finnish national health registries, researchers examined short-term outcomes of 54,876 patients with a traumatic brain injury (TBI), including 7,845 (average age 65) who were taking antidepressants at the time of injury.
- There was no evidence of statistically increased risk of 30-day mortality among antidepressant users—even people taking strongly serotonergic antidepressants—nor did antidepressant users have longer hospital stays.
- Antidepressant users with TBI did have an 11% reduced risk of requiring an acute neurosurgical operation.
- Individuals who were taking Vitamin K agonist blood thinners did have higher 30-day mortality than non-users (14.3% versus 6.8%), but concurrent antidepressant use did not exacerbate this risk.
The Other Side
The analysis didn’t consider antidepressant dose, which is a factor for bleeding risk, nor could the researchers make any conclusions about long-term health outcomes.
Takeaway Message
“This study addresses an issue that is a daily concern for many clinicians working in a variety of clinical settings,” the researchers noted. “These findings are reassuring given high incidence of head injury and the widespread use of serotonergic antidepressants in older adults.”
Related Information
Source
Jussi P. Posti et al. Impact of antidepressant use and serotonergic profile on short-term outcome of traumatic brain injury. Neurology. Published January 28, 2026. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000214602
(Image: Getty Images/iStock/NanoStockk)
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