title: [Antidepressant prescription patterns in patients affiliated with the General Social Security Health System of Colombia].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Determine patterns of antidepressive drug prescription in a group of patients affiliated with the General Social Security Health System in Colombia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Observational descriptive study of 9 881 patients, of both sexes and older than 5 years of age, medicated with antidepressants and continuously treated from August to October 2009. The patients include residents from 56 Colombian cities. A database was designed based on the consumption of medicines obtained from the company that distributes them to the patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average age was 59.1 ± 16.1 years; 73.7% of the participants were women. Of the total number of patients, 83.3% were treated with monotherapy and 16.7% with two or more antidepressants. The order of the prescription of the medicines was: selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, 47.0%; atypical, 37.8%; tricyclical, 31.8%; selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and norepinephrine, 1.8%; and selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, 0.03%. The combinations most used were fluoxetine + trazodone (n = 1 029); amitriptyline + fluoxetine (n = 265); amitriptyline + trazodone (n = 122); fluoxetine + imipramine (n = 106); and imipramine + trazodone (n = 71). The most prescribed co-medications were anti-hypertensives (52.3%); thyroid hormones (23.3%); anti-inflammatories (19.6%); anti-epileptics (15.4%); anti-diabetics (13.8%); anti-anxiety and hypnotics (12.4%); antipsychotics (7.4%); anti-Parkinsons (4.3%); and anti-neoplastics (2.2%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The practice of prescribing medicines with a high therapeutic value predominates, mainly for antidepressive monotherapy. Most of the antidepressants are prescribed at dosages lower than those recommended. There is a need to design educational strategies to correct some prescription practices and to conduct research.
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Investigación en Farmacoepidemiología y Farmacovigilancia, Departamento de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, Pereira, Colombia. machado@utp.edu.co
authors.forename: Jorge E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Machado-Alba
authors.forename: Cristhian David
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Morales Plaza
authors.forename: Mónica Johanna
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Solarte Gómez
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003105:Colombia; D015897:Comorbidity; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019338:Polypharmacy; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012943:Social Security / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents