Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25624307›Full record

ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2015

Explaining the variation between practices in the duration of new antidepressant treatment: a database cohort study in primary care.

Christopher Burton, Isobel Cameron, Niall Anderson

Abstract readMulticenter Study
In one paragraph

Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–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

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Can we trust studies using audit software? A case study of atrial fibrillation audit.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2015
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Christopher BurtonDivision of Applied Medicine, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen.
Isobel CameronDivision of Applied Medicine, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen.
Niall AndersonCentre for Population Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPractices vary in the duration of newly initiated antidepressant treatment, even after adjusting for patient characteristics. It was hypothesised that this may be because of differences between practices in demographic (practice deprivation and antidepressant prescribing rates), organisational (practice size and proportion of female GPs), and clinical factors (proportion of new episodes of depression coded).

aimTo examine the effect of practice characteristics on the duration of new selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressant treatment in primary care. DESIGN AND

settingDatabase cohort study of 28 027 patients from 237 GP practices in Scotland.

methodPrescription data were used to estimate duration of treatment for individual patients beyond three time points: 30, 90, and 180 days. Data at patient and practice level were analysed by multilevel logistic regression to quantify the variation between practices.

resultsThe mean rate of diagnostic coding for depression in patients beginning a course of treatment was 29% (range 0-80%). Practice-level deprivation and rate of new antidepressant prescribing were not associated with duration of treatment. The practice level factor most strongly associated with duration of treatment at practice level was the proportion of patients coded as having depression: odds ratio for continuing beyond 30 days was 1.54 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.22 to 1.94); beyond 90 days, 1.37 (95% CI = 1.09 to 1.71); and beyond 180 days 1.41 (95% CI = 1.10 to 1.82).

conclusionEncouraging coding and structured follow-up at the onset of treatment of depression is likely to reduce early discontinuation of antidepressant treatment and improve outcomes.

Indexed as

Antidepressive AgentsDepressive DisorderDrug Administration ScheduleDrug PrescriptionsFemaleFollow-Up StudiesHumansIncidenceMalePrescription DrugsPrimary Health CareRetrospective StudiesScotlandTime FactorsAntidepressive AgentsPrescription Drugsantidepressant treatmentclinical practice variationdepressive disorderprescribingprimary health care

Identifiers

PMID25624307
PMCPMC4325457

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.