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The number of prescriptions
written by British doctors for antidepressants more than doubled over
the last three decades.
Rates of antidepressant prescribing
increased markedly in all age and sex groups with as much as a threefold
increase in the older age groups, the investigators found. In 1998, they
noted, UK doctors wrote 23.4
million prescriptions for antidepressant drugs.
The introduction of the antidepressant
Prozac, in 1987 was a major factor behind these trends, the authors pointed
out. Prozac and other drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
have fewer side effects than the previous class of antidepressant drugs,
known as tricyclics. The newer medications have a less complicated dosing
regimen, and are also much less dangerous when taken in overdose.
With the exception of 12- to
19-year-olds, these increases have been more marked in males, although
absolute levels of prescribing are still at least two times higher in
females.
It is uncertain whether
or not these trends reflect a change in the population's mental health
or changes in the presentation, recognition and management of depression.
In the US, experts estimate
that during any given year, between 5% and 10% of the population experiences
major depression.
Journal of Public Health
Medicine 2001;23:262-267
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