ReviewBMC family practice2013
Evidence of prescription of antidepressants for non-psychiatric conditions in primary care: an analysis of guidelines and systematic reviews.
Review in BMC family practice, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The relationship between renin-angiotensin system-modulating medication and depression: a systematic review.Translational psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Chronic Pain in HIV-Infected Patients: Relationship to Depression, Substance Use, and Mental Health and Pain Treatment.Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.) · 2015Pooled it
- Symptoms of School Burnout in Comprehensive School and Mental Health Problems in Late Adolescence.Scandinavian journal of psychology · 2026Article
- Sociodemographic, academic, and health-related factors associated with antidepressant use among university and higher education students: a scoping review.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2026Review
- Understanding social media discourse on antidepressants: unsupervised and sentiment analysis using X.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2025Article
- Uncovering antidepressant prescription patterns: a three-year analysis of outpatient trends.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- iACT4IBD: a randomised controlled trial of a brief online intervention based on acceptance and commitment therapy to improve wellbeing for adults with inflammatory bowel disease.Frontiers in digital health · 2025Article
- [Prescription of antidepressants in primary care: a descriptive study on medical professionals' confidence].Cadernos de saude publica · 2024Article
- Hepatitis B and C in individuals with a history of antipsychotic medication use: A population-based evaluation.PloS one · 2023Article
- Global prevalence of antidepressant drug utilization in the community: protocol for a systematic review.BMJ open · 2022Article
- Neuroimmune Interactions in Pain and Stress: An Interdisciplinary Approach.The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry · 2021Review
- Biomarkers of Major Depressive Disorder: Knowing is Half the Battle.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2021Review
- A methodological quality assessment of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of antidepressants effect on low back pain using updated AMSTAR.BMC medical research methodology · 2020Article
- Prevalence and Determinants of Long-Term Utilization of Antidepressant Drugs: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2020Article
- Antidepressants in Spine Surgery: A Systematic Review to Determine Benefits and Risks.Asian spine journal · 2019Article
- Antidepressant medication use among working age first-generation migrants resident in Finland: an administrative data linkage study.International journal for equity in health · 2019Article
- Prevalence of Depression Among Women of Reproductive Age in the United States.Obstetrics and gynecology · 2018Article
- Psychiatry and Pain Management: at the Intersection of Chronic Pain and Mental Health.Current psychiatry reports · 2018Review
- Prevalence, incidence, indication, and choice of antidepressants in patients with and without chronic kidney disease: a matched cohort study in UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink.Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety · 2017Article
- Are men under-treated and women over-treated with antidepressants? Findings from a cross-sectional survey in Sweden.BJPsych bulletin · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAntidepressants (ADs) are commonly prescribed in primary care and are mostly indicated for depression. According to the literature, they are now more frequently prescribed for health conditions other than psychiatric ones. Due to their many indications in a wide range of medical fields, assessing the appropriateness of AD prescription seems to be a challenge for GPs. The aim of this study was to review evidence from guidelines for antidepressant prescription for non-psychiatric conditions in Primary Care (PC) settings.
methodsData were retrieved from French, English and US guideline databases. Guidelines or reviews were eligible if keywords regarding 44 non-psychiatric conditions related to GPs' prescription of ADs were encountered. After excluding psychiatric and non-primary care conditions, the guidelines were checked for keywords related to AD use. The latest updated version of the guidelines was kept. Recent data was searched in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and in PubMed for updated reviews and randomized control trials (RCTs).
resultsSeventy-eight documents were retrieved and were used to assess the level of evidence of a potential benefit to prescribing an AD. For 15 conditions, there was a consensus that prescribing an AD was beneficial. For 5 others, ADs were seen as potentially beneficial. No proof of benefit was found for 15 conditions and proof of no benefit was found for the last 9. There were higher levels of evidence for pain conditions, (neuropathic pain, diabetic painful neuropathy, central neuropathic pain, migraine, tension-type headaches, and fibromyalgia) incontinence and irritable bowel syndrome. There were difficulties in summarizing the data, due to a lack of information on the level of evidence, and due to variations in efficacy between and among the various classes of ADs.
conclusionsPrescription of ADs was found to be beneficial for many non-psychiatric health conditions regularly encountered in PC settings. On the whole, the guidelines were heterogeneous, seemingly due to a lack of trials assessing the role of ADs in treatment strategies.
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Registered trials
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.