As per a recent meta-analysis from the Journal of Affective Disorders, the headache among patients taking second-generation antidepressant medicines found more likely to be coincidental rather than the treatment-emergent side effect. The analysis was conducted to determine the risk of a headache accompanied by frequently used antidepressants and related drug class, dosage and pharmacodynamics effect on such type of headaches. All randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind trials involving the efficiency of second-generation antidepressants used to treat anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorders and depression were identified through PubMed. A fixed-effect meta-analysis was employed to examine the pooled risk ratio of headache reported as a side-effect in adults treated with second-generation antidepressants compared to placebo. The impact of drug dosage, class, type, receptor infinity profile and indications on the risk of a headache were examined by using stratified subgroup analysis and meta-regression.

As compared to placebo (p = 0.045) the Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were significantly related to the prolonged risk of a headache. No notable difference in risk of a headache was recorded with SSRIs and SNRIs (p = 0.63). Further, the second-generation antidepressants dosage, diagnostic indication and pharmacological properties exhibited similar relative risk of a headache. Escitalopram and Bupropion were the only antidepressants that showed a significant relationship with an enhanced risk of headache (p = 0.04 and 0.006, respectively).