Adverse cardiac events in older patients receiving venlafaxine: a population-based study.

OBJECTIVE: Venlafaxine is a commonly prescribed antidepressant, but whether its noradrenergic effects impart increased cardiovascular risk is unknown. We sought to examine the cardiac safety of venlafaxine relative to sertraline in older patients. METHOD: We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study using administrative health care databases in Ontario, Canada. We included all patients aged 66 years or older who commenced …