Major Depressive Disorder and Patterns of Antidepressant Prescription in Greece: Α Pharmacoepidemiological Study
R. I. Gournellis, I. Tollos, C. Doukas, M. Hadjulis, I. Michopoulos, P. Mitrou, E. Thireos, K. Mathioudakis, P. Skapinakis, V. KarageorgiouIntroduction
Psychopharmacological e pidemiological data regarding Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) are based on small-scale representative studies.
Objectives
Our study aims to determine the one-year prevalence of major depressive disorder under antidepressant treatment, identify the severity of MDD, and describe patterns of antidepressant prescription for MDD in Greece.
Methods
The electronic prescription database of the e-Government Centre for Social Security was used to describe the characteristics, the diagnoses and the prescription patterns in patients that received at least two prescriptions of antidepressants, with an ICD-10 code relevant to unipolar depression, during the 1-year period between 1st of February 2019 and 31st January 2020. All the beneficiaries of the National Organization for Health Care Services Provision were covered.
Results
The study population (n=369,860) indicates a 1-year prevalence of antidepressant-prescribed unipolar depression of 3.5%, with clear predominance of females (females: 72.5%), and mean sample age 65.1 years (standard deviation: 15.3). Concerning the severity of the diagnoses, 52.0% of the sample was characterized as “mild-moderate” severity, 6.6% was characterized as “severe” severity, and 56.2% was characterized as “unspecified” severity. 86.2% of the patients received one antidepressant, 12.1% of the patients received two antidepressants, and 1.7% of the patients received at least three antidepressants. The most commonly prescribed category of antidepressants was “SSRIs”, (78.3% ), followed by “SNRIs” (17.1%).
Conclusions
The prevalence of antidepressant-prescribed MDD was estimated at 3.5%. Identifying the prescription patterns of antidepressant treatment for MDD is of paramount importance in formulating policies for a cost-effective and quality-acceptable management of the disorder.
Disclosure of Interest
None Declared