People taking isotretinoin for severe acne appear to experience a wider range of psychiatric adverse events than just depression and suicidal ideation, according to a study using data from the US Food and Drug Administration.

Furthermore, it is unclear whether the drug is the root cause of depression and suicide attempts, or whether these are due to the presence of severe acne, the study authors say.

Harvard University researchers evaluated psychiatric adverse events reported to the FDA in patients taking isotretinoin from 1997-2017.

During this interval, there were 17,829 psychiatric adverse events with isotretinoin as the primary suspect drug.