ArticleSocial psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology2010
Prevalence of depression diagnosis and prescription of antidepressants in East and West Germany: an analysis of health insurance data.
Article in Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- General self-efficacy in East and West Germany: A comparison of two German representative cohorts in 2014 and 2022.Public health in practice (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Gender differences in the prevalence of mental distress in East and West Germany over time: a hierarchical age-period-cohort analysis, 2006-2021.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2024Article
- [Private Prescriptions In East And West Germany - A Secondary Data Analysis].Gesundheitswesen (Bundesverband der Arzte des Offentlichen Gesundheitsdienstes (Germany)) · 2023Article
- Non-Adherence to Antidepressant Treatment and Related Factors in a Region of Spain: A Population-Based Registry Study.Pharmaceutics · 2022Article
- New antidepressant utilization pre- and post-bereavement: a population-based study of partners and adult children.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2020Article
- 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall: Regional health differences in Germany.Journal of health monitoring · 2019Article
- Antidepressant prescription practice and related factors in Switzerland: a cross-sectional analysis of health claims data.BMC psychiatry · 2019Article
- Longterm persistence and nonrecurrence of depression treatment in Germany: a four-year retrospective follow-up using linked claims data.International journal of methods in psychiatric research · 2018Article
- [Provision of outpatient specialist care for mental disorders : Minor regional differences in treatment needs, major regional differences in availability].Der Nervenarzt · 2016Article
- Psychiatry in former socialist countries: implications for north korean psychiatry.Psychiatry investigation · 2014Review
- Antipsychotic prescription in children and adolescents: an analysis of data from a German statutory health insurance company from 2005 to 2012.Deutsches Arzteblatt international · 2014Article
- US regional differences in death rates from depression.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2012Article
- Who receives depression-specific treatment? A secondary data-based analysis of outpatient care received by over 780,000 statutory health-insured individuals diagnosed with depression.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2012Article
- Depression, Comorbidities, and Prescriptions of Antidepressants in a German Network of GPs and Specialists with Subspecialisation in Anthroposophic Medicine: A Longitudinal Observational Study.Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2012Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimThis study aimed to analyse depression-related factors. The prevalence of depression has been shown in prior surveys to vary between East and West Germany. Do these differences also appear in health insurance data?
methodThe outpatient data of a large German statutory health insurance company were analysed for regional differences in (a) the prevalence of depression diagnosis, (b) prescription rates of antidepressants and (c) risk factors of being diagnosed with depression or prescribed antidepressants. Diagnosis rates of depression in outpatient care (ICD-10 diagnosis F32/33) were analysed for the first quarter of 2004, and prescription rates of antidepressants were analysed for the first half of 2004. Odds ratios were calculated for the likelihood of being diagnosed with depression and of being prescribed antidepressants whilst considering socio-demographic and regional variables.
resultsThe prevalence of depression diagnosis is up to 41% lower in East Germany than the expected mean rate and 30% above the expected mean rate in Berlin. Regional distribution rates of antidepressant prescriptions largely follow the same pattern as rates for depression diagnosis, with the exception of Berlin where prescription rates are 10% below the expected mean rate. Unemployed persons in West Germany have a higher chance of being diagnosed with depression and of being prescribed antidepressants than those unemployed in East Germany. DISCUSSION: Results correspond greatly to findings of epidemiologic surveys. However, the lower rate of depression diagnosis and prescription rates in East Germany might also be due to fewer mental health professionals practising there and possible differences in reporting style of emotional symptoms. This might contribute to the differences in diagnosis and prescription prevalence but cannot be solely responsible for this phenomenon. Probable causes of the different depression prevalence rates in East and West Germany will be discussed in this analysis. More research into factors impacting on regional differences in the prevalence of depression is needed.
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