Treatment received by depressed patients in Japan and its determinants: naturalistic observation from a multi-center collaborative follow-up study.
BACKGROUND
Undertreatment of depression appears widespread but the available literature is limited to North American and European countries. We aimed to examine the treatment received by patients with major depression in Japan and to elucidate any predictor of their treatment level.


METHODS
A naturalistic, prospective follow-up study of an inception cohort of subjects with mood disorders was undertaken in psychiatric departments of 13 university hospitals, those of six general hospitals, three mental hospitals and one community mental health center from all over Japan. A total of 95 patients without any prior antidepressant treatment were diagnosed with major depression according to DSM-IV and were followed up every month until treatment termination and every 6 months thereafter.


RESULTS
The follow-up information was available in 98 to 97% of the cohort. The proportion of patients receiving less than 125 mg/day of imipramine or equivalent reached 69% (95% CI: 58-78%) at 1 month and 67% (95% CI: 54-77%) at 6 months. A few clinical variables were significantly associated with inadequate antidepressant prescription but altogether they explained only 5 to 14% of the variance observed.


CONCLUSIONS
Japan was no exception to the other industrialized countries in its less than optimal provision of treatment to major depression and its lack of explanatory predictors for this common practice.
Furukawa
T A
TA
Department of Psychiatry, Nagoya City University Medical School, Mizuho-cho, Mizuho-ku, 467-8601, Nagoya, Japan. toshi.furukawa@nifty.ne.jp
Kitamura
T
T
Takahashi
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K
D000328:Adult; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D004363:Drug Utilization; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007099:Imipramine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D007099:Imipramine