Patterns and prevalence of antidepressant drug use in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg: a prescription-based analysis

Abstract

Purpose: Population-based data about patterns and prevalence of antidepressant drug use is limited in Europe and presently unavailable for Germany. Therefore, we have identified patterns and prevalence of antidepressant use among outpatients on a population-based scale in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

Methods: We conducted a historical cohort study using a computerised prescription database referring to all members of the major German public health insurance company AOK. We assessed the prevalence of antidepressant drug use over a 3-year period, calculated the number of prescription items purchased per patient and compared first-line and second-line treatments.

Results: The 1-year prevalence of antidepressant drug use among more than 4,000,000 health insurance members was 7.4% (male: 4.3%; female: 10.2%). Importantly, almost 40% of the patients received only a single prescription item from 2000 to 2002. Though the use of serotonin-reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) markedly increased by about 65% within the study period, these are primarily used as second-line drugs and still much less frequently than St. John's wort or tricyclic antidepressants such as amitryptiline or doxepin.

Conclusions: The prevalence of antidepressant drug use is higher than previously reported for other European countries. The preferred use of St. John's wort and tricyclics over SSRIs and other modern-type antidepressants in Germany is quite unique in Europe and different from the US. The identified drug use pattern leaves a major room for improvement in view of the numerous single prescription items purchased.