Robert D. Gibbons was interviewed by U.S. News & World Report about a recent study by Gibbons et al., published Online First by the Archives of General Psychiatry on February 6, 2012.

The study found that antidepressant drugs such as fluoxetine and venlafaxine decreased suicidal thoughts and behavior for adult and geriatric patients. For youths, no significant effects of treatment on suicidal thoughts and behavior were found, although depression responded to treatment. No evidence of increased suicide risk was observed in youths receiving active medication.

These findings are presented in the article “Suicidal Thoughts and Behavior With Antidepressant Treatment: Reanalysis of the Randomized Placebo-Controlled Studies of Fluoxetine and Venlafaxine” by Robert D. Gibbons, Ph.D., C. Hendricks Brown, Ph.D., Kwan Hur, Ph.D., John M. Davis, M.D., and J. John Mann, M.D.

In the May 2011 issue of Drug Safety, Robert D. Gibbons and J. John Mann review the most recent literature on the relationship between drugs (antidepressants, antiepileptics, varenicline, montelukast and antipsychotics) and suicidal events.

The study, described in Strategies for Quantifying the Relationship between Medications and Suicidal Behaviour: What has been Learned?  , examines the literature on methodological and statistical approaches to the design and analysis of suicidal event studies.

The authors conclude that overall, there appears to be little evidence that drugs increase the risk of suicide and related behaviour. Suicidal thoughts are quite common, particularly among patients with depression, and may have little relationship to suicidal behaviour and/or completion.

In the March 2010 volume of the Annual Review of Public Health, Robert D. Gibbons and colleagues review a variety of approaches to drug safety surveillance, including spontaneous reports, meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials, ecological studies, and analysis of medical claims data.

The study, described in Post-Approval Drug Safety Surveillance, provides an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each method and an overview of some of the existing literature on the relationship between antidepressants and suicidality using many of these methods. The authors also include new analyses that have not previously been performed to illustrate some of the newer methods described.

In the December 2009 issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, Robert D. Gibbons and colleagues examine the link between suicide attempts and 11 antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) identified in a January 2008 Food and Drugs Administration alert regarding increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior related to the use of AEDs.

The pharmacoepidemiologic study described in Relationship Between Antiepileptic Drugs and Suicide Attempts in Patients With Bipolar Disorder  compares suicide attempt rates before and after treatment and with a medication-free control group.

A discussion of the study can be found in the following publications:

Antiepileptic Drugs Not Associated With Increased Risk of Suicide Attempts in Patients With Bipolar Disorder
Journal of the American Medical Association News Release

No Link Between Antiepileptics and Suicidality in Patients With Bipolar Disorder 
by Deborah Brauser, Medscape Medical News

Reconsidering antiepileptic medications as a treatment for bipolar disorder
by Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times

Epilepsy Drugs for Bipolar Disorder: Fewer Suicides?
by Daniel J. DeNoon, WebMD Health News

In the July 2009 issue of Psychiatric Annals, guest editor Robert D. Gibbons introduces several articles that provide an overview of the following general statistical topics:

• the problems of determining association in two-by-two tables as related to assessing risk factors and diagnostic and prognostic tests
• the analysis of observational data in general and how nonexperimental data can be used to derive inference regarding treatment effects
• the role of analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) in analyzing experimental data
• the statistical approaches to analysis of multiple outcomes in psychiatric investigations
• the concepts of “mediators and moderators” and how they are related to clinical decision making

Read the guest editorial and articles

In the December 2008 issue of Psychiatric Annals, guest editor Robert D. Gibbons provides a review of the important statistical methodologies and issues that have arisen in the analysis of longitudinal data over the past 15 years.

The guest editorial, Design and Analysis of Longitudinal Studies , introduces several articles that focus on important topics such as sample size determination for clustered and/or longitudinal studies, the role of the intent-to-treat principle in longitudinal studies and various alternatives, missing data in longitudinal clinical trials and balancing treatment and comparison groups in longitudinal studies.

Read this issue's articles

In the lead article of the April 2008 issue of Psychiatric Services, Robert D. Gibbons et al. investigate the combination of item response theory and computerized adaptive testing (CAT) as a means to reduce the time required to administer a collection of extensive, fixed-length psychiatric instruments for mental health measurement and diagnostic purposes.

The methodology described in Using Computerized Adaptive Testing to Reduce the Burden of Mental Health Assessment  streamlines and individualizes the measurement process, increases measurement precision and decreases respondent and clinician burden.

The article is featured in the issue's This Month's Highlights  and is further discussed in the Commentary, Are We Ready for Computerized Adaptive Testing? 

In a recent appearance on the ABC7 News Special Segment, Too young to die, Dr. Gibbons spoke on the relation between the 2004 introduction by the FDA of the "black box" warning on anti-depressants and the recent decrease in SSRI prescriptions and increase in youth suicide rates.

The latest study by Robert D. Gibbons et al. on the effects of the FDA's "black box" warnings on SSRI prescriptions and youth suicide rates is discussed in several recent articles, some of which are listed below:

Youth Suicides Increased As Antidepressant Use Fell 
by The Washington Post

Suicide Rises in Youth; Antidepressant Debate Looms 
by The New York Times

As youth suicides increase, FDA's label rule criticized 
by Chicago Tribune

The study examines whether U.S. and European regulatory agencies issued suicidality warnings led to a decrease in SSRI prescriptions for children and adolescents and consequently an increase in suicide rates as a result of untreated depression.

These findings are presented in the “Early Evidence on the Effects of Regulators’ Suicidality Warnings on SSRI Prescriptions and Suicide in Children and Adolescents” article by Robert D. Gibbons, Ph.D., C. Hendricks Brown, Ph.D., Kwan Hur, Ph.D., Sue M. Marcus, Ph.D., Dulal K. Bhaumik, Ph.D., Joëlle A. Erkens, Pharm.D., Ph.D., Ron M.C. Herings, Pharm.D., Ph.D., and J. John Mann, M.D.

The article appears in the September 2007 issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry.

Robert D. Gibbons, Ph.D., is quoted in a Newsweek article  with respect to the "black box" warning introduced by the Food and Drug Administration in 2004 to alert patients and physicians that antidepressants could lead to an "increased risk of suicidal thinking and behavior among children and adolescents."

This article comes at a time when several new studies conclude that it is much more likely that suicidal behavior leads to treatment than that treatment leads to suicidal behavior. In light of the findings of these studies many experts are calling on the FDA to modify and even repeal its warning.

Robert D. Gibbons, director of the Center for Health Statistics and professor of biostatistics and psychiatry, is quoted in a New York Times article  about his recent study that found antidepressants lower the risk of suicide attempt in adults with depression —a finding that questions the FDA's recent decision to add a "black box" warning on antidepressant drugs for young adults.

A study of the relationship between antidepressant treatment and suicide attempts in adult patients in the Veterans Administration health care system found that suicide attempt rates were lower among patients who were treated with antidepressants than among those who were not.

These findings are presented in the “Relationship Between Antidepressants and Suicide Attempts: An Analysis of the Veterans Health Administration Data Sets” article by Robert D. Gibbons, Ph.D., C. Hendricks Brown, Ph.D., Kwan Hur, Ph.D., Sue M. Marcus, Ph.D., Dulal K. Bhaumik, Ph.D., and J. John Mann, M.D.

The article appears in the July 2007 issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry, the official journal of the American Psychiatric Association.

A county-by-county study of the entire United States found that suicide rates among children ages 5-14 during the period 1996-1998 were lower in counties with higher numbers of antidepressant pills prescribed per person.

These findings are presented in the article "The Relationship Between Antidepressant Prescription Rates and Rate of Early Adolescent Suicide"  by Robert D. Gibbons, Ph.D., Kwan Hur, Ph.D., Dulal K. Bhaumik, Ph.D., and J. John Mann, M.D., of the Center for Health Statistics, University of Illinois at Chicago, and the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

The article is also highlighted in the editorial "How Can We Know Whether Antidepressants Increase Suicide Risk?"  by Dr. Gregory E. Simon, M.D., M.P.H., of the Group Health's Center for Health Studies and in a News Release  by the American Psychiatric Association.

The New York Times article Study Condemns F.D.A.’s Handling of Drug Safety   discusses the findings and recommendations of the report, and its role in intensifying the debate over the safety of the nation's drug supply and the adequacy of the government's oversight.

A 15-member Institute of Medicine committee, which includes Robert D. Gibbons, Ph.D., has issued a report, The Future of Drug Safety: Promoting and Protecting the Health of the Public, that reviews the drug safety policies of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and offers a broad set of recommendations to ensure that consideration of safety extends from before product approval through the entire time the product is marketed and used.

"The Relationship Between Antidepressant Prescription Rates and Rate of Early Adolescent Suicide" by Robert D. Gibbons, Ph.D., Kwan Hur, Ph.D., Dulal K. Bhaumik, Ph.D., and J. John Mann, M.D., will be highlighted in The American Journal of Psychiatry's In This Issue  section and featured in a newsletter.

Robert D. Gibbons, Ph.D., was one of the 13 members of the expert panel convened by the National Institutes of Health to assess the effectiveness and safety of multivitamin and mineral supplements in chronic disease prevention.

The panel's findings received wide media coverage all around the world. Read more about the evidence taken into consideration and the panel's conclusions in the "Benefits of Multivitamins Unclear, Panel Finds" article , featured on page 70 of Clinical Psychiatry News, Volume 34, Issue 7.