Evidence map›Paper›PMID 19192372›Full record

ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2009

Initiation of antidepressant therapy: do patients follow the GP's prescription?

Erica C G van Geffen, Helga Gardarsdottir, Rolf van Hulten, Liset van Dijk, Antoine C G Egberts, Eibert R Heerdink

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 52 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
52citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

52 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Behavioural activation therapy for depression in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020
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  5. Behavioural therapies versus other psychological therapies for depression.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2013
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Erica C G van GeffenDivision of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacotherapy, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, the Netherlands.
Helga Gardarsdottir
Rolf van Hulten
Liset van Dijk
Antoine C G Egberts
Eibert R Heerdink

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe question whether patients actually start drug taking after having received a first antidepressant prescription is often overlooked.

aimTo determine the incidence of patients who do not fill or fill only a single antidepressant prescription at the pharmacy, and to identify associated patient characteristics. DESIGN OF STUDY: Retrospective study linking a general practice to a pharmacy dispensing database.

settingGeneral practice in the Netherlands.

methodSTUDY POPULATION: patients who received a first-time antidepressant prescription from a GP. Three patient groups were identified: patients who did not fill the prescription (non-fillers); patients who filled only a single prescription (single Rx-fillers); and patients who filled at least two consecutive prescriptions. Non-fillers and single Rx-fillers were combined into a group of decliners.

resultsOf all 965 patients, 41 (4.2%) did not fill the prescription, and 229 (23.7%) filled only a single prescription. Patients who consulted their GP for a non-specific indication, rather than for depression, anxiety, panic, or obsessive-compulsive disorder, were almost three times more likely (odds ratio [OR] = 2.7, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.8 to 3.9) to decline treatment. Further, the risk of declining was almost fivefold higher (OR = 4.8, 95% CI = 2.1 to 11.3) in non-Western immigrants, and almost twofold higher (OR = 1.8, 95% CI = 1.2 to 2.8) in patients >60 years of age.

conclusionOver one in four patients who receive a first-time antidepressant prescription decline treatment; they either do not initiate drug taking or do not persist with antidepressant use for longer than 2 weeks.

Indexed as

Drug MonitoringAdolescentAdultAgedAntidepressive AgentsDepressive DisorderDrug PrescriptionsEpidemiologic MethodsFamily PracticeFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedNetherlandsPatient ComplianceRisk FactorsAntidepressive Agents

Identifiers

PMID19192372
PMCPMC2629822

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.