title: Cross-sectional database analysis of antidepressant prescribing in Italy.
abstract: Antidepressant drug trials have been criticised because they study atypical populations of depressive patients. The present cross-sectional database analysis was designed to define what constitutes a typical population of patients receiving antidepressants. From a database covering a population of 1,057,053 residents in Piedmont, Italy, and including all community (i.e. outside hospitals) prescriptions reimbursed by the National Health System, all prescriptions of antidepressant drugs dispensed during the first six months of 2000 were extracted. Using the general practice patient code all records were attributed to a sample of patients receiving antidepressants. During the study period 22,135 patients were dispensed one or more prescriptions, yielding a prevalence of use of 27.6 (CI 27.1, 28.0) per 1,000 females and 13.7 (CI 13.4, 14.0) per 1,000 males (female/male ratio 2.01). The prevalence of use progressively increased with age, with the highest rates in subjects over 75 years. The distribution of patients by number of antidepressant prescriptions showed that nearly 50% received only one or two prescriptions over the six months surveyed. Moreover, 18,676 subjects (84%) were prescribed antidepressants together with other medications. These data suggest shifting the focus of antidepressant drug trials from selected to non-selected populations of patients, including the elderly and patients with medical comorbidity, enrolled using entry criteria as close as possible to those adopted in everyday clinical practice. The high proportion of occasional antidepressant users suggests that clinical trials should follow all patients, without excluding those who fail to continue the study medication.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, Milano, Italy. corrado.barbui@univr.it
authors.forename: Corrado
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barbui
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Broglio
authors.forename: Anna Costa
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Laia
authors.forename: Solangela
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: D'Agostino
authors.forename: Fiorenza
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Enrico
authors.forename: Lorenza
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ferraro
authors.forename: Emmanuela
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fiorio
authors.forename: Flavia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Miletti
authors.forename: Clara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pietraru
authors.forename: Lorena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Poggio
authors.forename: Gianni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tognoni
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016208:Databases, Factual; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology; D004363:Drug Utilization; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents