Antidepressant drug prescribing in general practice: a 6-year study.
We analysed antidepressant drugs (AD) prescription ratios of the GPs working in Verona, Italy, over a 6-year period (1983-1988). The data, provided by a local drug information system (SIF-USL), were calculated as Defined Daily Dose (DDD), which is the unit of drug consumption recommended by WHO. We found that DDD/1000 patients/day increased over the period, mainly because of an increase in the use of 'second-generation' antidepressants and other non-tricyclic antidepressants. An increase in the levels of prescription of AD was observed over the 6 years. This increase was statistically significant when comparing the first (1983) with the other years. Low correlations were found between DDD/patient/year ratios and GPs' age, sex and list size. Harmonic analysis of the seasonal variations in prescriptions of AD revealed a substantial pattern of seasonality, in which the first four harmonics accounted for the greater part (95.5%) of the seasonality. AD prescribing may be linked more closely to seasonal holiday patterns than to seasonality in the onset of depressive disorders.
Balestrieri
M
M
Servizio di Psicologia Medica, Università di Verona, Italy.
Bragagnoli
N
N
Bellantuono
C
C
D000328:Adult; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000639:trends; D005194:Family Practice; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D012621:Seasons
D000928:Antidepressive Agents