title: Evidence of prescription of antidepressants for non-psychiatric conditions in primary care: an analysis of guidelines and systematic reviews.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Antidepressants (ADs) are commonly prescribed in primary care and are mostly indicated for depression. According to the literature, they are now more frequently prescribed for health conditions other than psychiatric ones. Due to their many indications in a wide range of medical fields, assessing the appropriateness of AD prescription seems to be a challenge for GPs. The aim of this study was to review evidence from guidelines for antidepressant prescription for non-psychiatric conditions in Primary Care (PC) settings.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were retrieved from French, English and US guideline databases. Guidelines or reviews were eligible if keywords regarding 44 non-psychiatric conditions related to GPs' prescription of ADs were encountered. After excluding psychiatric and non-primary care conditions, the guidelines were checked for keywords related to AD use. The latest updated version of the guidelines was kept. Recent data was searched in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and in PubMed for updated reviews and randomized control trials (RCTs).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy-eight documents were retrieved and were used to assess the level of evidence of a potential benefit to prescribing an AD. For 15 conditions, there was a consensus that prescribing an AD was beneficial. For 5 others, ADs were seen as potentially beneficial. No proof of benefit was found for 15 conditions and proof of no benefit was found for the last 9. There were higher levels of evidence for pain conditions, (neuropathic pain, diabetic painful neuropathy, central neuropathic pain, migraine, tension-type headaches, and fibromyalgia) incontinence and irritable bowel syndrome. There were difficulties in summarizing the data, due to a lack of information on the level of evidence, and due to variations in efficacy between and among the various classes of ADs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Prescription of ADs was found to be beneficial for many non-psychiatric health conditions regularly encountered in PC settings. On the whole, the guidelines were heterogeneous, seemingly due to a lack of trials assessing the role of ADs in treatment strategies.
authors: Department of General Practice, University of Rouen, Rouen, France. alain.mercier@univ-rouen.fr
authors: Alain
authors: A
authors: Mercier
authors: Isabelle
authors: I
authors: Auger-Aubin
authors: Jean-Pierre
authors: JP
authors: Lebeau
authors: Matthieu
authors: M
authors: Schuers
authors: Pascal
authors: P
authors: Boulet
authors: Jean-Loup
authors: JL
authors: Hermil
authors: Paul
authors: P
authors: Van Royen
authors: Lieve
authors: L
authors: Peremans
mesh_terms: D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006300:Health Services Misuse / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000592:standards; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000592:standards*
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents
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