SSRIs heighten risk of post-op death

Taking SSRIs around the time of surgery significantly elevates the risk of postoperative bleeding and death, a major US study finds.

Patients who took SSRIs at any point in the perioperative period had a 9% higher risk of bleeding and a 20% higher risk of mortality, the analysis of more than 530,416 surgical patients showed.

The findings, published Tuesday in JAMA Internal Medicine, raise fresh questions over whether SSRIs exert a direct pharmacological effect on