Drugs & Adverse Effects / More People on Antidepressants

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