BUMMER –
December 24, 2018 – In the study, the more drugs people took, the higher their depression risk. About 7 percent of those taking one such drug were depressed compared with 15.3 percent of those taking at least three. This is concerning for older adults, who may take multiple medications and are more vulnerable to drug side effects, says Michael Hochman, an associate professor of clinical medicine at Keck Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. But even if you’re taking medications linked to depression, they’re not necessarily the cause. “It’s important to bear in mind that most people taking these medications, even those who are on three or more of them, don’t have depression,” Olfson says.
