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. 2025 Aug 8;25(5):24.
doi: 10.1038/s41397-025-00382-1.

Antidepressant drug switching in the Swiss population with a focus on Escitalopram and drugs with pharmacogenetic dosing guidelines: a drug utilization study using claims data

M M Roth  1   2 , C R Meier  1   2 , C A Huber  3 , H E Meyer Zu Schwabedissen  4 , S Allemann #  5 , C Schneider #  1   2
Affiliations

Antidepressant drug switching in the Swiss population with a focus on Escitalopram and drugs with pharmacogenetic dosing guidelines: a drug utilization study using claims data

M M Roth et al. Pharmacogenomics J. .

Abstract

Depression affects around 10% of the Swiss population. While SSRIs are commonly prescribed, only 30-40% of patients achieve remission. Pharmacogenetic (PGx) factors may explain part of this high rate of SSRI treatment failure. This study examined antidepressant (AD) switching among Swiss patients using escitalopram, focusing on whether they switched to ADs with PGx dosing guidelines (PGx AD) or ADs without PGx dosing guidelines (non-PGx ADs). Data from Swiss health insurance records identified 41 275 patients who used escitalopram between July 2020 and June 2022. While 6.4% (n = 2 638) switched to another antidepressant, only 35.4% of these opted for a PGx AD. Men, younger adults showed higher switching rates, whereas patients on antipsychotic medications switched less. Individuals younger than 20 years old and women were more likely to switch to PGx AD whereas the elderly were less likely to switch to PGx AD.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Consent statement: According to article 22 of the Swiss Federal Law on data protection ethics approval was not necessary, as the study was retrospective and used anonymized data [24].

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Number of patients on escitalopram switching to another PGx or non-PGx AD per month.
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References

    1. Bundesamt für Statistik. Schweizerische Gesundheitbefragung 2022 - Übersicht. 2023;1–28.
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    1. Bundesärztekammer (BÄK), Kassenärztliche Bundesvereinigung (KBV), Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Wissenschaftli- chen Medizinischen Fachgesellschaften (AWMF). Nationale VersorgungsLeitlinie Unipolare Depression – Langfassung, Version 3.2. 2022 [cited: 2024 Oct 30]. 10.6101/AZQ/000505. www.leitlinien.de/depression.
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