Liver Function Test Abnormalities in Depressed Patients Treated with Antidepressants: A Real-World Systematic Observational Study in Psychiatric Settings

BACKGROUND: Concerning the risk of antidepressant induced liver injury, it is not clear whether psychiatrists perform a liver function test (LFT) and whether an increase in aminotransferase levels should contraindicate antidepressant treatment. AIM: To evaluate LFT availability, the prevalence of LFT abnormalities and the probable cause of an altered LFT in patients with a major depressive episode (MDE) requiring an antidepressant drug. METHODS: We studied LFT evaluation in a real world psychiatric setting, in a sample of 321 consecutive patients with a current major depressive episode (MDE) requiring an antidepressant drug treatment, but without current alcohol or drug dependence or unstable medical disease. RESULTS: An LFT is performed in 36.1% (116/321) of depressed patients. One fifth of antidepressant-treated patients who had an LFT evaluation had abnormal results. The most frequent causes of LFT abnormalities were: NAFLD (nonalcoholic fatty liver disease) (7/321; 2.1%), acute alcohol consumption (4/321; 1.2%), antidepressant-induced liver injury (3/321; 0.9%), hepatitis C virus infection (2/321; 0.6%) and heart failure (1/321; 0.3%). The cause of LFT abnormalities was unknown in 32% of patients (8/25) due to the absence of etiological investigations. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate that an LFT is infrequently performed by psychiatrists in depressed patients requiring an antidepressant drug. Baseline LFT assessment and observations during the first six months of antidepressant treatment may be useful for detection of patients with pre-existing liver disease such as NAFLD, and early identification of cases of antidepressant-induced liver injury. An increase in aminotransferase levels may be related to an underlying liver disease, but does not contraindicate antidepressant treatment.