Meta-Analysis on Teen Suicide One of the Essay

Meta-Analysis on Teen Suicide

One of the leading treatments for depression are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRI's, however their effectiveness seems to be age related. In a recent study titled "Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and risk of suicide: A systematic review of observational studies," the authors assert that the effectiveness of these drugs is dependent upon the age of the patient. Young patients aged 25 or younger, had an increased risk of suicide or suicide attempt while patients aged 65 or older had a reduced risk. The risk for those aged between 25 and 65 was found to be neutral.

This study was a quantitative study because it used data from other studies to calculate the statistics involved in the relationship between the use of SSRI's and suicide. One of the major aspects of a quantitative study is the use of statistics to present evidence in the form of mathematics. In their research the authors "analyzed data from 6 observational cohort and 2 case-control studies representing over 200,000 patients…" ("Meta-analysis," 2009, p.6) The authors also conducted statistical analyses on each of the individual studies to ensure that there were no random effect sensitivity influence on their results.However, the authors also acknowledged that "confounding by illness severity," a typical qualitative aspect, could not be excluded from their analysis, admitting that qualitative aspects were not a part of their study. ("Meta-analysis," 2009, p.7)

The authors undertook this study primarily was to better understand a study conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of "372 randomized placebo-controlled trials" of antidepressants. ("Meta-analysis," 2009, p.5) In these trials the FDA found an age related risk of suicide among patients, however, these trials were not designed to take into account the concept of "suicidality," or the ideation, preparation, and attempts at suicide, only actual suicides. The authors wanted to conduct a more comprehensive analysis of the relationship between age, SSRI use, and "suicidality."

In their search of the literature from which they chose the studies that would be included in their research, the authors were "careful to avoid publication bias in their study selection criteria by not excluding non-English-language studies in their literature search." ("Meta-analysis," 2009, p.6) This means that they were willing to use studies conducted in any language, from any country, in order to find the most widespread and comprehensive data for which.....