By CCHR International – July 9, 2014
A new study published in JAMA Psychiatry shows that psychiatric drugs send nearly 90,000 adults to the emergency room yearly in the United States alone. Researchers analyzed information from 63 hospitals in the United States that collect data on emergency department visits for drug side effects and came up with the following stats:
- Between 2009 and 2011, there were an estimated 89,094 emergency room visits yearly for prescription psychiatric drug side effects for 19-65 year olds.
- Of these nearly 90,000 visits, 19.3% resulted in hospitalization.
- The predominant side effects that lead to Emergency Room visits were: altered mental status (delirium), falls or head injuries, sensory abnormalities (e.g., vertigo), hypersensitivity reactions, movement disorders (uncontrollable twisting movements of the body), heart problems such as palpitations.
- The sedative Ambien,(an Anti-Anxiety Drug) and its generic forms, were tied to more emergency room visits than those of any other psychiatric drug examined in the study—10,212 visits. This is followed by Seroquel and antipsychotic, (6,900 visits) and Xanax an antianxiety drugand its generic forms (5,616 visits).
- Sedatives and anti-anxiety drugs caused the most ER visits (30,707 visits), followed by antidepressants (25,377 visits) and antipsychotics (21,578 visits).
Read the study here: http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1885708
Click the following links for a complete list of all documented side effects of the following categories of psychiatric drugs: