Acne sufferers a higher suicide risk - study

PEOPLE WHO suffer from severe acne are at an increased risk of attempting suicide, research published this morning suggests.

The Swedish study also says an additional suicide risk may be present when a person is treated with the anti-acne drug, isotretinoin, but that this additional risk is most likely due to the acne rather than the treatment.

Reporting in the online edition of the British Medical Journal, Dr Anders Sundstrom and colleagues from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden say they examined data on 5,750 people aged from 15 to 49 who had been prescribed isotretinoin to treat severe acne.

Using linked hospital registers and death records, they investigated suicide attempts before, during and after isotretinoin treatment. The results show some 128 patients were admitted to hospital following a suicide attempt and that the number of suicide attempts increased between one and three years before treatment was started with the drug.

There have been conflicting reports about whether the drug isotretinoin, with the trade name Roaccutane, is linked to depression and suicidal behaviour.

Last August, Liam Grant, whose son took his own life while on a course of Roaccutane, was given access to documents concerning suspected reactions attributed to the drug which are held by the European Medicines Agency.

Mr Grant from Terenure, Dublin, claims his son Liam’s death by suicide in June 1997 was a side-effect of his use of the drug. He is taking a case against Roche, the makers of the drug.

“In order to protect the wellbeing of our patients, the information provided with Roaccutane carries a warning that some patients may experience mood changes, including an increase in depression.” a spokeswoman for Roche said yesterday.

Dr Rosemary Coleman, consultant dermatologist at the Blackrock Clinic, said acne causes far more depression than Roaccutane does.

“If a patient with severe acne is clinically depressed, this is not a contraindication to using the drug when the person is under the joint care of a psychiatrist,” she said.