title: The impact of age and gender on adherence to antidepressants: a 4-year population-based cohort study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Impaired adherence is common among patients using antidepressant drugs (ADs). However, few studies investigated the role of age and gender in adherence to AD and finding conflict.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to determine how gender and age impact adherence to AD in a large-scale cohort.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a historical cohort study (N = 310,994 individuals) that claimed AD prescriptions during a 4-year period. Adherence was defined as the ratio between the duration of claimed AD prescriptions and the duration of continuously prescribed AD.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Substantial differences in the mean adherence to AD were noted throughout the lifespan, ranging from 0.38 (first decade) to 0.63 (tenth decade). Average adherence was significantly higher for males aged 20-40 years than for females of that age, but this relationship reversed later in life (50-70 years). A regression analysis model of adherence as the dependent variable showed a significant interaction between age and gender variables (beta = 0.001, p < 0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrates the effect of age and gender, and their interaction, on adherence to AD across the entire life span. The marked age- and modest, yet significant, gender-related effects should be taken into consideration when targeting impaired adherence to these commonly prescribed medications.
authors.affiliation: Clalit Research Institute, Chief Physician Office, Clalit Health Services, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Krivoy
authors.forename: Ran D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Balicer
authors.forename: Becca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Feldman
authors.forename: Moshe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hoshen
authors.forename: Gil
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zalsman
authors.forename: Abraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weizman
authors.forename: Gal
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Shoval
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy*; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D012923:Social Class; D055815:Young Adult; D016903:Drug Monitoring
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents