In the March 7th issue of the British Medical Journal, Dr. Gunnar Lindberg and colleagues report that about one tenth of the variation in suicide risk among 152 municipalities in Sweden was associated with the use of calcium channel blockers.

None of the other cardiovascular drugs studied was linked with suicide risk once the research team adjusted the data to account for varying rates of use. For this reason, the researchers conclude that the increased suicide risk was unrelated to cardiovascular disease itself.

Separately, Lindberg and his colleagues studied all the people within one municipality who used blood pressure drugs in 1988 or 1989. They compared 617 users of calcium channel blockers with 2,780 users of other blood pressure drugs. After controlling for age and sex, they found that the suicide risk in users of calcium channel blockers was 5.4 times higher than the risk in users of the other drugs.

"Use of calcium channel blockers may increase risk of suicide," conclude the researchers.

Previous research has suggested that the use of calcium channel blockers increases the risk of depression. This effect "...may constitute a link with risk of suicide," Lindberg's team notes. The investigators point out that calcium channel blockers "...easily penetrate the blood-brain barrier" and thus may "...interfere with neurones and receptors involved in the regulation of mood."

March 6, 98
SOURCE: British Medical Journal