Jasmin Mujkanovic and colleagues at Copenhagen University Hospital conducted a population-based cohort study and found that long-term use of antidepressants was associated with an increased risk of sudden cardiac death. The analysis included all deaths in Denmark aged 18–90 years that occurred in 2010. The calculations were adjusted for age, sex, and comorbidities. The results were presented at the annual congress of the European Society of Cardiology EHRA 2025 and are described in a press release.
Of the 4.3 million Danish residents of this age group, 45,701 died in 2010, 6,002 of whom died from sudden cardiac death. 644,000 people had taken antidepressants before that year, of whom 1,981 had sudden cardiac death in 2010. For a duration of use of one to five years, the odds ratio was 1.56, and for six years or more, it was 2.17 (p < 0.001 for both). The increased risk was especially pronounced in the 40–79 age group.