Survival outcomes associated with antidepressant use in glioblastoma: a cohort study

TL;DR

This study found that using antidepressants after a glioblastoma diagnosis is linked to worse survival outcomes, suggesting a need to carefully weigh the risks and benefits of such treatments.

Contribution

The study provides real-world evidence that antidepressant use is associated with reduced survival in glioblastoma patients.

Findings

SSRIs, SNRIs, serotonin modulators, and atypical antidepressants were all linked to worse survival in glioblastoma patients.

Among SSRIs, escitalopram and citalopram were specifically associated with worse survival outcomes.

Antidepressant use was associated with worse survival even after adjusting for known clinical factors.

Abstract

Glioblastoma is the most common primary brain malignancy and carries significant mortality. Preclinical studies have highlighted the efficacy of antidepressant therapy in inhibiting glioblastoma progression; however, real-world evidence remains conflicting. We sought to investigate the impact of different commonly utilized antidepressant therapies on survival in patients with glioblastoma.

In total, 1464 consecutive patients with glioblastoma treated at a single institution from 2008 to 2023 were included for analysis. Multivariate cox regression analysis with antidepressant usage modeled as a time varying covariate was used to assess the effect of antidepressants while controlling for a priori selected clinical variables with known relevance to survival.

The median age at diagnosis was 62 (IQR 52–70) years with a median overall survival of 13.8 months. Of the cohort, 44% utilized antidepressants after diagnosis, with SSRIs as the most common class utilized (26%). The median duration of any antidepressant therapy was 111 (IQR 9-303) days. In a time varying, multivariate cox regression, usage of SSRIs (HR 1.4, 95%CI 1.21–1.62), SNRIs (HR 1.33, 95%CI 1.03–1.72), serotonin modulators (HR 1.61, 95%CI 1.40–1.86), and atypical antidepressants (HR 1.7, 95%CI 1.28–2.26) were associated with worse survival. Amongst SSRIs, only escitalopram (HR 1.33, 95%CI 1.10–1.60) and citalopram (HR 1.31, 95%CI 1.01–1.70) were associated with worse survival.

Antidepressant therapy is associated with worse survival in patients with glioblastoma after adjusting for known factors with relevance to survival. Clinicians should consider the risks and benefits of prescribing antidepressants in patients with glioblastoma. Further evidence is necessary to better understand the impact of antidepressant therapy in glioblastoma survival.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11060-025-05288-3.

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