Tuesday, September 21, 2004

What's next for depressed kids?
Boston Globe story - "Last week's finding by a government advisory panel that the newest generation of antidepressants is linked to suicidal behavior in a small percentage of children has left parents and care givers in a quandary as they weigh the drugs' risks against possible benefits and search for other options. The nine medications, which the Food and Drug Administration panel said should be labeled with the agency's sternest "black box" warning, already presented doctors with a confusing array of treatment choices..."  
  

SSRIs Can Impair Adolescents' Sexual Function
Reuters Health story at Medscape - "Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may commonly lead to sexual dysfunction in adolescents as in adults, but doctors aren't asking, according to psychiatrists at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Should the Unpublished Results of Clinical Trials Be Available to Other Researchers and Physicians?
A Medscape "Webcast Video Editorial" by George Lundberg, Editor of MedGenMed, that requires QuickTime - "The controlled clinical trial, ethically conducted with sufficient numbers of participants, randomization, blinding, and statistical power, is the gold standard for such testing. If trial results of an intervention are favorable, they are written as an article and efforts are made to get it published in a proper, peer-reviewed medical journal. No problem. But if the results are equivocal or negative, what then? ... Shouldn't you have a way of finding that so you don't begin an unnecessary, even potentially harmful trial? What if voluminous relevant data apply to a patient you are caring for and you can't find those data? Is that not a wasteful or even harmful situation? Many individuals and organizations are asking these questions, and a groundswell is developing to require the posting of clinical trials in progress and their results as an international registry..." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].