Accutane and Depression
Accutane is a member of the drug class called retinoids, which have been demonstrated to alter the way the body reads genes. Use of the drug while pregnant is known to harm fetuses and reduce the quantity of brain cells that they generate. This is why precautions are taken to ensure that women who are pregnant or who can become pregnant do not use the drug. However, recent studies suggest that brain-cell production may be equally important in adolescents and adults. Scientists at the University of Baths and the University of Texas in Austin suggest Accutane might also interfere with the body's production of the mood hormone serotonin.
While evidence from the more than 13 million users of Accutane worldwide suggests that just 5 to 10 percent experience from side effects, retinoids have also been implied in connections to Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia, so doctors are eager to know how the drug works.
Depression Linked to Acne Treatment
Acne treatment with the drug isotretinoin (Accutane) has been implicated in an increase in feelings of depression in adolescent users, and while the link has never been proven, scientists have gathered evidence through an animal study.
Although scientist Dr. Sarah Bailey noted that it is impossible to ask a mouse if it is depressed, its behaviour can be analyzed and modeled with two tests. The first involves causing the young mice to experience stress by forcing it to swim, while the second produces stress by hanging the mice by its tail.
Acne Cure Tested for Side Effects
Usually, a mouse will swim, climb or struggle, and only periodically stop in a period of resignation. A depressed mouse will remain in its resigned state longer than one that is healthy. The mice given human-equivalent doses of Accutane tended to demonstrate increased depression-related behavior.
Accutane maker Roche claims, "While no causal relationship has been demonstrated between Accutane and either depression or suicide, we are constantly monitoring all available safety databases on Accutane worldwide." However, the World Health Organization has reported 720 cases of mental problems associated to the administration of Accutane, including 84 suicides and suicide attempts.
The argument that isotretinoin promoted depression and suicide has won a few lawsuits, and is in part responsible for the strict control of the drug, especially in the US. Various case studies of depression, suicidal tendencies, suicide attempt, and suicide in patients treated with the acne skin care isotretinoin have been reported to the U.S. FDA Adverse Events Reporting System, with 431 incidences documented between 1982 and May 2001 - of these 37 patients had committed suicide.
Idiosyncratic Effects From Acne Skin Care
Studies have shown that patients with acne, the population group eligible to undergo isotretinoin therapy, have an increased risk of clinical depression compared with the general population. Isotretinoin associated depression is "an idiosyncratic side effect." Usually anxiety can bring on acne and depression, leading to more anxiety. Also, treatment of severe acne using isotretinoin has been shown to minimize anxiety and depression.
One study utilising positron emission tomography (PET) demonstrated functional brain imaging variations in patients using isotretinoin, however the clinical relevance of this finding is unclear.
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Published March 6th, 2008
Filed in Health
