Department of Health Sciences Reports Findings in Antidepressants (Prevalence, trends, and individual patterns of long-term antidepressant medication use in the adult Swiss general population): Drugs and Therapies – Antidepressants

2023 SEP 20 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Drugs and Therapies - Antidepressants is the subject of a report. According to news reporting out of Zurich, Switzerland, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “Antidepressant use has increased in many European countries, mostly driven by longer treatment duration. The aim of this study was to provide prevalence rates of long-term users of antidepressants for the Swiss population over the last decade and to investigate associated factors for longer use.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the Department of Health Sciences, “We examined the prevalence rates of individuals with at least one prescription for antidepressants using longitudinal health claims data for 2013 to 2021. We defined short- (< one year), medium- (one-two years), and long-term users (> two years) for 2015 to 2019. We applied a binary logistic regression model to investigate the effects of population (gender, age, area of living, language, health insurance plan, and nursing home) and treatment characteristics (psychiatric or psychotherapeutic care) on long-term compared to short- and medium-term users in 2019. In 2021, 9% of the Swiss population (n = 770,698) received at least one antidepressant prescription, which remained stable since 2013. In 2019, the proportion of long-term users was 57.4%, with steady increase since 2015. The proportion of medium- and short-term users has decreased. Older age, being a woman, living in an urban area, living in a nursing home, being enrolled in a standard care plan, and receiving psychiatric or psychotherapeutic care were factors positively associated with being a long-term user. The proportion of long-term users in Switzerland is high and steadily increasing.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Given the ongoing debate about the confounding effects of relapse and withdrawal, more research is needed to investigate longer use of antidepressants that could indicate overprescribing.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Prevalence, trends, and individual patterns of long-term antidepressant medication use in the adult Swiss general population. European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 2023. European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology can be contacted at: Springer Heidelberg, Tiergartenstrasse 17, D-69121 Heidelberg, Germany. (Springer - www.springer.com; European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology - http://www.springerlink.com/content/0031-6970/)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Melanie A. Amrein, Dept. of Health Sciences, Helsana Group, Zurich, Switzerland. Additional authors for this research include Michael P. Hengartner, Markus Napflin, Renato Farcher and Carola A. Huber.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00228-023-03559-4. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology is: Springer Heidelberg, Tiergartenstrasse 17, D-69121 Heidelberg, Germany.

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