In 2004, the Food and Drug Administration announced that antidepressant packages should carry a "black box" warning describing an increased risk of suicide and suicidal thoughts in children and youths up to age 25. The FDA action triggered a significant decline in antidepressant use among children and teens.

Now, however, an analysis suggests there is no reason to believe that antidepressants influence suicidal thinking in kids.

The paper, published online Monday in the Archives of General Psychiatry, analyzed data on more than 9,000 adults and children. The study showed that adults had a decreased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior while taking an antidepressant. Among children, medications neither increased nor decreased such behavior.

The lead author of the paper, Robert Gibbons of the University of Chicago, said the study suggests that antidepressants reduce suicide rates by treating the underlying depression. If the treatment does not work, suicide risk remains the same or rises.

The impact of the "black box" warning, Gibbons said in a news release, was to reduce antidepressant prescriptions to children — which was correlated with an increase in suicide rates. "I hope that the warnings will not prevent depressed children and adults from getting treatment for depression," he said.