Is there a link between antidepressants and breast and ovarian cancer? A new meta-analysis of 61 trials identified a connection in nearly 33 percent of the epidemiological and pre-clinical studies conducted between 1965 and 2010 found an association between cancer and antidepressants. And the link was stronger among women using selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs.
Moreover, the study found researchers with industry ties were significantly less likely than researchers without those affiliations to conclude antidepressants increase the risk of breast or ovarian cancer. The authors of the meta-analysis, which was published this week in PLoS Medicine, suggest the findings raise public health and policy issues, "because there is increasing evidence that financial ties among industry, investigators, and academic institutions can affect the research process."
Why? It is worth recalling antidepressants are used by some 27 million Americans, and are the third most-prescribed type of med after cholesterol pills and painkillers. SSRIs include Pfizer's Zoloft and GlaxoSmithKline's Paxil. “Reviewing the evidence is a critical public health issue in light of the increasing prevalence of antidepressant use, especially among women, and in light of the fact that one in eight women will be diagnosed with cancer of the breast during their lifetime,” the PLoS authors write.
The researchers detected an 11 percent greater likelihood of women who take an antidepressant of developing either breast or ovarian cancer later in life. But the odds rose when 15 studies funded by drugmakers were yanked from the analsysis. Why? None of those studies found any such link. For instance, none of the four epidemiological studies for which the principal investigator had industry ties reported a positive association between antidepressants and cancer risk. Of the 22 studies for which the PI had no industry ties, 45 precent reported positive findings.
Similarly, none of the 11 pre-clinical studies for which the PI had industry ties reported positive cancer findings, the researchers wrote. Of the 24 studies for which the PI had no industry ties, 42 precent reported antidepressants were carcinogenic or promoted tumors. In total, none of the 15 researchers with industry ties reported positive cancer findings, versus 43 percent of those without industry ties.
Consequently, the researchers posit that "rather than having fewer and less severe side effects, short-term use and/or low dose antidepressants could increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancer in women or exacerbate cancer cell growth in women in the early stages of breast and ovarian cancer." But they also suggest that large-scale prospective cohort studies of women using SSRIs are needed to determine if antidepressants cause or enhance breast and ovarian tumor growth.
The lead author, by the way, has previously explored research involving industry ties. Last year, Lisa Cosgrove, an ethics fellow at Harvard University, explored the links between psychiatrists and drugmakers (back story).
Despite the implications, they conclude by noting the PLoS authors do not wish to suggest that researchers with industry ties "intentionally designed studies to produce results favorable" to drugmakers or misrepresented results. The existence of industry ties "points to a generic risk that a financial conflict of interest may compromise the research process or undermine public trust. Conflicts of interest do not imply that any (specific researcher) is improperly motivated."
7 Comments
The authors' disclaimer quoted at the end seems a little tortuous, but, of course, it is ultimately beside the point.
What matters is the consistent correlation in studies of this sort, not attributions of motive. Industry funding is a "risk factor" for suppressed risk info and/or inflated benefit, whatever the mechanism.
Having had breast cancer thirty years ago, and having been put on antidepressants and told I had a "chronic depression" due to family history by psychiatrists, this story is just one more let down from pharma. I never until now connected the two.
One more letdown from a dirty industry.
I would want to know if it is the anti-depressants or the depression that is associated with breast cancer. That wasn't clear from this article.
I agree that the bigger issue of suppressed information is not surprising and motives don't matter. The other side of the problem is the lack of published studies from people without conflicts of interest, in so many areas of importance.
New book urges use of antidepressants to treat and prevent cancer. “Killing Cancer” by Dr. Julian Lieb reviews the medical literature showing that antidepressants have remarkable anticancer properties. BURLINGTON, Vt. More than 120 clinical, laboratory and epidemiological studies support the anticancer properties of antidepressants. Antidepressants kill cancer cells, inhibit their division, protect nonmalignant cells from damage by ionizing radiation and chemotherapy toxicity, and convert multidrug resistant cells to sensitive. Depression significantly increases the risk of cancer, and increases and accelerates its mortality. Antidepressants are capable of arresting cancer even in advanced stages, and occasionally eradicating it. Studies show that antidepressants are potentially effective for many malignancies, including some notoriously resistant to chemotherapy and radiation. Antidepressants can alleviate pain, alone or in potentiating opiates, as well as many side effects of chemotherapy. Lieb points out that the use of relatively inexpensive antidepressants could make cancer treatment available to low-income and disadvantaged segments of the population. By slashing the cost of cancer care, antidepressants could energize health reform, stabilize Medicare, and help to reduce the deficit. In making the case for antidepressants, Lieb discusses prostaglandins, molecules that regulate the physiology of every cell in the body. When produced above a critical threshold, prostaglandins cause many disorders, including depression and cancer. By inhibiting the production of prostaglandins, antidepressants can neutralize or defeat cancer. Cancer is not a hundred different diseases, as touted, but one disease with innumerable variations. Every patient, physician and citizen has the human and ethical right to evaluate a new treatment approach for themselves, without interference by any third party. They may exercise that right by accessing Pubmed or other biomedical database.
“Killing Cancer” is available for sale online at Amazon.com and other channels. About the Author Dr. Julian Lieb is a retired Yale School of Medicine professor, and author or co-author of 48 articles and 11 books. He is a recognized expert on the immunostimulating and antimicrobial properties of lithium and antidepressants, and the anticancer properties of antidepressants. He has worked closely with pioneers in prostaglandin research, and invited to address international cancer conferences in Greece, Germany and India. Julian@DoctorLieb.com For educational purposes only, all treatment decisions to be made with a physician. To verify: Access Pubmed, and enter “antidepressants” and “cancer.”
Not pharma, but special interests discrediting antidepressants, and giving then a bad name. That is an ethical and human rights violation.
Thank you for your article Ed - ABSOLUTELY EXCELLENT as usual! When Kramer came out with his Listening to Prozac it was clear to me where his interests were based. Apparently Pharma has found another "advocate" in Dr. Julian Lieb. In reading his comment above what immediately came to mind was a statement by Adolf Hitler: “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it”. It has worked well in promoting these useless and deadly antidepressants.
The research on the cancer CAUSING effects of antidepressants has been made more than obvious for many years even to the use of Paxil demonstrating a SEVEN TIMES greater rate of breast cancer! This adverse effect was so obvious to me from patient reports 20 years ago that I began calling on any obituary notices in our local newspaper where the person had died of cancer. I wanted to find out for myself if the patient had been taking an antidepressant. The rate was about 95% in the early to mid 90's.
I have had three personal friends of my own die of Paxil-induced breast cancer and lost my uncle to a fast growing cancer after taking Paxil and another friend lost her life to what she knew was Prozac-induced cancer. So the "real life laboratory" absolutely does not support Dr. Leib's premise for his new book!
After 20 years of working to help patients put their lives and health back together after the use of antidepressants I remain convinced that these drugs are among the most toxic of chemicals producing more disease, both mental and physical, that I have ever witnessed.
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