Antidepressants are linked to reduced COVID- 19

Taking a certain group of antidepressants - selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) - reduces the risk of death in patients with covid-19 . This is stated in a study by scientists from California and Stanford Universities, published in the journal JAMA.

Scientists analyzed data from medical records of 500,000 patients in the United States. 83.5 thousand of them were diagnosed with CORONAVIRUS from January to September 2020. In this group, 3.4 thousand people were prescribed SSRIs.

The researchers compared the outcomes of coronavirus infection in those taking antidepressants with patients with COVID-19 in the control group, who were matched according to age, gender, nationality and the presence of comorbidities. As a result, they found that the risk of death in those taking fluoxetine (a drug from the SSRI group) was 28% less than in the control group. Those who took fluoxetine or fluvoxamine (another SSRI drug) had a 26% lower risk. Overall, taking any SSRI was associated with an 8% reduction in the risk of death from COVID-19, the study said.

At the same time, scientists noted that it will be possible to assert the effectiveness of the use of antidepressants in order to reduce mortality from coronavirus only after large-scale randomized clinical trials.