Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34957433›Full record

ArticleJournal of affective disorders reports2021

An analysis of antidepressant prescribing trends in England 2015-2019.

Hasnain M Lalji, Anita McGrogan, Sarah J Bailey

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of affective disorders reports, 2021. 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.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
35citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
4.7field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
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

35 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 54 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  10. Patterns of antidepressant prescribing around pregnancy: a descriptive analysis using Clinical Practice Research Datalink GOLD.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2026
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  18. Environmental sustainable ZrOBMC chemistry · 2025
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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 at 1 institution in 1 country.

Hasnain M LaljiDepartment of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK.
Anita McGroganDepartment of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK.
Sarah J BaileyDepartment of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath BA2 7AY, UK.
University of Bath · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background Growing concerns about the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) will likely lead to increased mental health diagnoses and treatment. To provide a pre-COVID-19 baseline, we have examined antidepressant prescribing trends for 5 years preceding COVID-19. Methods A retrospective analysis of anonymised data on medicines prescribed by GPs in England from the Open-Prescribing Database (January 2015 to December 2019) identified the 10 most prescribed antidepressant and, for comparison, cardiovascular medicines. Results Prescription items for the 10 most prescribed antidepressants rose 25% from 58 million (2015) to 72 million (2019). Citalopram was the most prescribed antidepressant; prescriptions for sertraline rose fastest at 2 million items year on year. Over the same period, costs for antidepressant prescribing fell 27.8%. Across all Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in England, antidepressant prescribing levels, adjusted for population were positively correlated with the index of multiple deprivation (IMD) score. In comparison, prescribing for the top 10 most prescribed cardiovascular medicines increased by 2.75% from 207 million (2015) to 213 million (2019) items. Limitations Anonymised data in the Open-Prescribing Database means no patient diagnoses or treatment plans are linked to this data. Conclusion Antidepressant prescribing, particularly sertraline, is increasing. Prescribing is higher in more deprived regions, but costs are falling to < 2% of all items prescribed. Absolute numbers of prescriptions for cardiovascular medicines are higher, likely reflecting the greater prevalence of cardiovascular disease, and are rising more slowly. This study will enable future work to look at the impact of COVID-19 on prescribing for mental health.

Indexed as

AntidepressantCardiovascular prescribingCCG, Clinical Commissioning GroupCOVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019DepressionGeneral PracticeIMD, index of multiple deprivationMental healthNHSBSA, NHS Business Services AuthorityNHS, National Health ServiceSNRI, serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake inhibitorSSRI, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor

Identifiers

PMID34957433
PMCPMC8684293
OpenAlexW3191477127

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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Registered trials

None linked

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.