REM-suppressing antidepressant prescriptions were associated with modestly longer survival in an ALS database study
Original source
Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Suppressing Antidepressant Prescription is Associated with Improved Survival in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. (opens in a new tab)Compass summarised this from the study's abstract.
Study details
- Studied in
- Human
People with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) who were prescribed REM-suppressing antidepressants within three months of diagnosis had higher one-year survival than those prescribed non-REM-suppressing antidepressants. The association became weaker after statistical matching and cannot show that the medicines caused better survival.
Why this matters
The finding may help researchers investigate whether REM sleep and antidepressant choice are relevant to ALS survival. It does not currently change treatment recommendations or demonstrate a benefit for people with ALS.
Limitations and context
This retrospective analysis used coded U.S. health-record data and included 5,057 people prescribed one of the two antidepressant categories. Differences may reflect why particular medicines were prescribed or other unmeasured factors. After propensity-score matching, the risk-difference analysis was no longer statistically significant. The authors describe the result as hypothesis-generating and call for prospective studies including sleep testing and ALS-specific prognostic factors.