Analysis of Antidepressant-Related Adverse Events in National and International Literature: A Scoping Review

The use of antidepressants has increased substantially in recent years, raising growing concerns regarding their safety profiles across diverse populations.This scoping review aimed to comprehensively map and synthesize existing evidence on antidepressant safety by integrating findings from both domestic and international studies.We systematically reviewed studies that evaluated adverse events associated with antidepressant use using a wide range of data sources, including national health insurance claims databases, spontaneous adverse event reporting systems, electronic health records, and meta-analyses.Across the included studies, antidepressant-related adverse events varied according to drug class and individual agents.Observational cohort studies based on insurance claims data provided comparative risk estimates for clinically significant outcomes, such as cardiovascular events, self-harm, fractures, and hyponatremia.Studies using spontaneous reporting systems primarily identified safety signals related to rare but serious adverse events, including suicidal behavior, cardiac arrhythmias, and withdrawal symptoms, which should be interpreted as hypothesis-generating rather than causal.Electronic health record-based studies offered insights into real-world presentation of adverse events.Meta-analyses and narrative reviews further supported associations between specific antidepressant classes and selected adverse outcomes that were difficult to assess in individual studies.Overall, this review highlights that antidepressant safety profiles differ across drug classes and agents and emphasizes the importance of interpreting safety evidence considering data source characteristics and patient factors.These findings underscore the need for careful drug selection and vigilant monitoring, particularly in high-risk populations, to support the safe use of antidepressants in clinical practice.(PeRM