London - Anti-depressants taken by hundreds of thousands of people may increase the chances of developing diabetes, researchers warn.
A major study involving more than a million patients has shown that those taking the pills are at far higher risk from the condition.
Researchers think this may be because anti-depressants cause weight gain which in turn leads to type 2 diabetes.
But despite the strong link, they cannot be sure the pills are causing the condition. Patients on anti-depressants are more likely to be overweight so have a higher risk of developing diabetes in the first place than healthy individuals.
The numbers of Britons taking anti-depressants has soared in the past decade and more than 50 million prescriptions were handed out by GPs last year, compared to 20 million in 1999.
Experts say doctors are handing out the pills too freely without considering the possible long-term side effects.
In one of the largest studies of its kind, academics from Southampton University looked at 25 research papers that involved just over a million patients. The study, published in the journal Diabetes Care, found many patients were developing type 2 diabetes – the most common form – after they had been prescribed anti-depressants.
Lead researcher Dr Katharine Barnard, a health psychologist, said: “Anti-depressants are used widely in the UK, with a significant increase in their use recently.
“Our research shows that when you take away all the classic risk factors of type 2 diabetes – weight gain, lifestyle etc – there is something about anti-depressants that appears to be an independent risk factor. This potential increased risk is worrying. Heightened alertness to the possibility of diabetes in people taking anti-depressants is necessary until further research is conducted.”
Richard Holt, professor in diabetes and endocrinology at the University of Southampton, said: “While depression is an important clinical problem and anti-depressants are effective treatments for this debilitating condition, clinicians need to be aware of the potential risk of diabetes.
“When prescribing anti-depressants, doctors should be aware of this risk and take steps to monitor for diabetes and reduce that risk of diabetes through lifestyle modification.”
About 3 million people in Britain have been diagnosed with diabetes, nearly twice as many compared to 1996. The rise has been blamed on increasing levels of obesity and experts calculate that by 2020, there will be 4 million people in the UK with the condition. - Daily Mail