Adherence to antidepressant therapy for major depressive patients in a psychiatric hospital in Thailand.
BACKGROUND
Poor adherence to antidepressant therapy is an important barrier to the effective management of major depressive disorder. This study aims to quantify the adherence rate to antidepressant treatment and to determine the pattern of prescriptions of depressed patients in a psychiatric institute in Thailand.


METHODS
This retrospective study used electronic pharmacy data of outpatients aged 15 or older, with a new diagnosis of major depression who received at least one prescription of antidepressants between August 2005 and September 2008. The medication possession ratio (MPR) was used to measure adherence over a 6 month period.


RESULTS
1,058 were eligible for study inclusion. The overall adherence (MPR > 80%) in those attending this facility at least twice was 41% but if we assume that all patients who attended only once were non-adherent, adherence may be as low as 23%. Fluoxetine was the most commonly prescribed drug followed by TCAs. A large proportion of cases received more than one drug during one visit or was switched from one drug to another (39%).


CONCLUSIONS
Adherence to antidepressant therapy for treatment of major depression in Thailand is rather low compared to results of adherence from elsewhere.
Prukkanone
Benjamas
B
School of Population Health, University of Queensland Herston, QLD 4006, Australia. benjamas.prukkanone@uqconnect.edu.au
Vos
Theo
T
Burgess
Philip
P
Chaiyakunapruk
Nathorn
N
Bertram
Melanie
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005473:Fluoxetine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D038801:International Classification of Diseases; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013785:Thailand; D016903:Drug Monitoring
D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D005473:Fluoxetine