Impact of duration of antidepressant treatment on the risk of occurrence of a new sequence of antidepressant treatment.
Pharmacopsychiatry
; 44(3): 96-101, 2011 May.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-21328195
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Despite the recommendation that antidepressant treatment should be continued for several months to reduce the risk of relapse/recurrence of depression, early discontinuation is frequent in naturalistic conditions. The study was aimed at exploring the impact of early discontinuation of antidepressant treatment on the risk of antidepressant re-initiation.METHODS:
A follow-up study of persons (n=35,053) starting antidepressant treatment was performed using a representative sample of the French Social Security Insurance national database.RESULTS:
The risk of re-initiation of antidepressant treatment was higher if the duration of the index episode of antidepressant treatment was ≥ 6 months [hazard ratio (HR)=2.35; 95% CI 2.25-2.45) or 2-5 months (HR=1.65; 95% CI 1.59-1.71) compared to ≤ 1 month. The other characteristics independently associated with re-initiation of treatment were older age, female gender, low income, serious chronic illness, index prescription by a specialist and co-prescription of other psychotropic drugs.CONCLUSIONS:
The lower risk of re-initiation of antidepressant treatment in persons with shorter-than-recommended duration of antidepressant treatment might be explained by overprescription of antidepressants in persons with sub-threshold symptoms.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Psychotropic Drugs
/
Depression
/
Depressive Disorder
/
Antidepressive Agents
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Guideline
/
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Pharmacopsychiatry
Year:
2011
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
France