Health experts have issued a warning to Brits taking commonly prescribed antidepressant medications, following a major study into the drugs.
Earlier this week, academics from King's College London and the University of Oxford published a table ranking the side effects caused by different types of antidepressant medications available in the UK.
Researchers found that certain antidepressants cause a fluctuation in weight, heart rate, and cholesterol levels within the first eight weeks of commencing treatment.
Used to treat mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder, antidepressants are widely prescribed in the UK, with research suggesting around one in six Brits are taking the medication.
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The most common type of antidepressants are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs); however, patients can also be prescribed tricyclic antidepressants or Serotonin-Noradrenaline Reuptake Inhibitors (SNRIs).
What are the side effects of taking antidepressants?
Common side effects listed on the NHS website include: mood changes, difficulty sleeping, nausea, weight change and heart palpitations.
However, the new research has revealed notable variations between medications when it comes to weight fluctuation and changes to a person's heart rate or cholesterol.
The research examined over 58,000 people and 30 different types of common antidepressants, including sertraline, citalopram, escitalopram, and fluoxetine.
Researchers found that certain drugs led to participants seeing their heart rate increase by as much as 21 beats every minute and gaining 2kg in weight.
Drugs such as amitriptyline or nortriptyline were found to cause an increase in heart rate, while sertraline and fluoxetine were found to lower heart rate. When it came to cholesterol, venlafaxine, duloxetine and paroxetine were all linked to an increase, while citalopram or escitalopram had little to no impact.
Meanwhile, maprotiline was linked to a weight gain of 2kg, while agomelatine saw a 2.4kg decrease in weight.
Overall, SSRI medications - such as sertraline, citalopram, escitalopram, paroxetine, fluvoxamine and fluoxetine - were linked to the fewest side effects.
Despite the results, researchers were keen to stress that patients prescribed antidepressants shouldn't stop their treatment without consulting their doctor.
Acknowledging how the findings may be 'pretty scary' for Brits currently taking antidepressants, Dr Kasim Ahmed told BBC's Morning Live programme the medications were prescribed for a 'reason'.
"The important thing that needs to be mentioned here is that these medications have been given for a reason and that reason is because of a mood disorder of some kind, whether that’s depression, anxiety, bipolar affective disorder," he explained.
"These are very, very good medications at solving someone’s problems or helping someone deal with some of the problems that they’re facing as a result of these mood-based disorders."
Brenna Cooper