• Irfan A Dhalla, David N Juurlink, Tara Gomes, John T Granton, Hong Zheng, and Muhammad M Mamdani.
• Department of Medicine, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Medicine, Toronto, ON, Canada; Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada; Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, ON, Canada. Electronic address: dhallai@smh.ca.
• Chest. 2012 Feb 1; 141 (2): 348353348-353.

BackgroundAnimal and human studies suggest that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) might be useful for the prevention or treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension.MethodsWe conducted a population-based, nested case-control study to explore the hypothesis that SSRIs might reduce the risk of pulmonary arterial hypertension. Cases were individuals who developed pulmonary arterial hypertension requiring pharmacologic treatment. For each case, we selected up to 10 matched control subjects. Exposure to SSRIs and non-SSRI antidepressants was ascertained using administrative data. The outcome of pulmonary arterial hypertension requiring pharmacologic therapy was defined as the receipt of a drug specific for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension.ResultsIn contrast to our hypothesis, and likely because of residual confounding, we found a positive association between SSRI use and pulmonary arterial hypertension (adjusted OR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.13-2.13).ConclusionsAt conventional doses, SSRIs are not associated with a reduced risk of pulmonary arterial hypertension.

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