ArticleBMC family practice2014
Patient factors associated with SSRI dose for depression treatment in general practice: a primary care cross sectional study.
Article in BMC family practice, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
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- A survey of community pharmacists perspectives on monitoring antidepressant adverse events.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2026Article
- Influence of Ageing on the Pharmacodynamics and Pharmacokinetics of Chronically Administered Medicines in Geriatric Patients: A Review.Clinical pharmacokinetics · 2025Review
- Identifying depression and its determinants upon initiating treatment: ChatGPT versus primary care physicians.Family medicine and community health · 2023Article
- Antidepressant medication use in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: a nationally representative population-based study.Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics · 2022Article
- Dose-response effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor monotherapy for the treatment of depression: systematic review of reviews and meta-narrative synthesis.BMJ medicine · 2022Article
- Factors associated with fluoxetine and norfluoxetine plasma concentrations and clinical response in Mexican patients with mental disorders.Pharmacology research & perspectives · 2021Article
- 'Doing the right thing': factors influencing GP prescribing of antidepressants and prescribed doses.BMC family practice · 2017Article
- Abandoning personalization to get to precision in the pharmacotherapy of depression.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2016Article
- A cross comparison between Ayurvedic etiology of Major Depressive Disorder and bidirectional effect of gut dysregulation.Journal of Ayurveda and integrative medicineReview
- Benzodiazepine and z-hypnotic prescribing from acute psychiatric inpatient discharge to long-term care in the community.Pharmacy practiceArticle
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAntidepressant prescribing continues to rise. Increased long-term prescribing and higher doses are contributing to current growth; however, patient factors associated with the use of higher doses remain unknown. This study's aim was to investigate patient factors associated with selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor (SSRI) prescribed daily dose for depression treatment in general practice.
methodsA stratified sample of low to high prescribing practices were selected. Routine individual patient-level data were extracted one practice at a time: September 2009 to January 2011. Patients included were ≥18 years, and prescribed an SSRI for depression. Logistic regression analysis was undertaken to assess individual predictor variables on SSRI daily dose by standard therapeutic dose versus higher dose, as SSRIs demonstrate flat dose response curves for depression treatment. Predictor variables included: age, gender, deprivation, co-morbidity, smoking status, being prescribed the same SSRI for ≥2 years, and patients' general practice. For a subgroup of patients a second sub-group analysis included long-term benzodiazepine and/or z-hypnotic (B&Z) as a predictor variable.
resultsInter-practice SSRI prescribing varied significantly; practice point prevalence ranged from 2.5% (94/3697) to 11.9% (359/3007) of the practice population ≥18 years old; median 7.3% (250/3421) (χ2 = 2277.2, df = 10, p < 0.001). Overall point prevalence was 6.3% (3518/52575), with 5.8% (3066/52575) prescribed SSRIs for depression of whom 84.7% (2596/3066) had data for regression analysis. Higher SSRI doses were significantly associated with, in descending order of magnitude, individual practice attended, being prescribed the same SSRI for ≥2 years (Odds Ratio (OR) 1.80, 95% CI 1.49 to 2.17, p < 0.001) and living in a more deprived area (OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.11 to 2.16, p = 0.009). Higher SSRI doses in the B&Z subgroup were significantly associated with individual practice attended, being prescribed a long-term B&Z (OR 2.05 95% CI 1.47 to 2.86, p < 0.001) and being prescribed the same SSRI for ≥2 years (OR 1.94, 95% CI 1.53 to 2.47, p < 0.001).
conclusionHigher SSRI doses for depression were associated with practice attended and being prescribed the same antidepressant for ≥2 years. As long-term antidepressant use increases, the use of higher doses may further contribute to prescribing growth.
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