BACKGROUND: Antidepressants have recently become one of the most commonly prescribed class of medications in the United States.
OBJECTIVES: To describe the pattern of use of anti-depressant drugs among new users in a United States population in the year 2007.
METHODS: PharMetrics, a US integrated claims database of managed care plans, was used to conduct a cross-sectional study among new users of antidepressants. Date of first prescription during 2007 was defined as the index date. New users were those individuals who received a prescription for an antidepressant during the year 2007 who were not prescribed with antidepressants during the 6 months before index date. Descriptive statistics using SAS Version 9.2 were calculated.
RESULTS: A total of 348,731 new users of antidepressants were identified in 2007, representing 1.4% of the total population enrolled. Among the antidepressants users, 89.9% were 19 years old and 66% were women. Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) accounted for 60.0% of antidepressant prescriptions, other reuptake inhibitors for 22.0%, and tricyclic antidepressants for 11.7%. The most common psychiatric diagnoses recorded within 3 months before and 3 months after index date were depressive disorders (26%), neurotic disorders (25.2%), and anxiety states (16.8%). Antianxiety agents were the most commonly concomitant medications prescribed (20.1%).
CONCLUSIONS: In 2007, 1.4% of this US commercially insured population was newly prescribed an antidepressant. SSRIs followed by other reuptake inhibitors were the most commonly prescribed group of antidepressants.
