ArticleBMJ open2022
Global prevalence of antidepressant drug utilization in the community: protocol for a systematic review.
Article in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 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
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Influence of antidepressant use on periodontal status: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical oral investigations · 2025Pooled it
- Prevalence of Antidepressant Prescriptions for Community-Dwelling Adults Diagnosed with Depressive Disorder in the UK: A Systematic Review.The Psychiatric quarterly · 2024Pooled it
- Weight Gain During SSRI Therapy: The Potential Role of the Gut Microbiota-A Narrative Review and Mechanistic Hypothesis.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Mapping Peer Support in Antidepressant Discussions on Reddit: Pilot Network Analysis.Journal of participatory medicine · 2026Article
- Antidepressant drug use in Europe: past consumption, prescribing patterns and forecast until 2030.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2026Article
- Characterization of Antidepressant Consumption in a Portuguese Inland Population.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Uncovering antidepressant prescription patterns: a three-year analysis of outpatient trends.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Antidepressant use in the Canary Islands (Spain): a retrospective study of provincial, island and municipal trends and associated factors.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
- An Exploration of the Interplay Between Caffeine and Antidepressants Through the Lens of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics.European journal of drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics · 2025Review
- Oral paroxetine improves symptoms and quality of life in refractory irritable bowel syndrome: a retrospective study.American journal of translational research · 2025Article
- Impact of Antidepressants on Weight Gain: Underlying Mechanisms and Mitigation Strategies.Archives of clinical and biomedical research · 2025Article
- Article
- Prevalence, trends, and individual patterns of long-term antidepressant medication use in the adult Swiss general population.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2023Article
- Global trends in antidepressant, atypical antipsychotic, and benzodiazepine use: A cross-sectional analysis of 64 countries.PloS one · 2023Article
- Utility of pharmacogenetic testing to optimise antidepressant pharmacotherapy in youth: a narrative literature review.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
19 authors at 7 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionAntidepressant drugs are the most frequently prescribed medication for mental disorders. They are also used off-label and for non-psychiatric indications. Prescriptions of antidepressants have increased in the last decades, but no systematic review exists on the extent of their use in the community. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will conduct a systematic review to estimate the prevalence of antidepressant use in the community. We will search for studies published from 1 January 2010 in the Embase and MEDLINE databases using a combination of controlled vocabulary and keywords adjusted for each database without any language restriction. The main inclusion criterion is the presence of prevalence data of antidepressant utilization. Thus, we will include all studies with a descriptive observational design reporting the prevalence of antidepressant use in the community. Study selection (by title/abstract and full-text screening) and data extraction for included studies will be independently conducted by pairs of reviewers. We will then synthesize the data on the prevalence of antidepressant use in individuals living in the community. If possible, we will perform a meta-analysis to generate prevalence-pooled estimates. If the data allows it, we will conduct subgroup analyses by antidepressant class, age, sex, country and other sociodemographic categories. We will evaluate the risk of bias for each included study through a quality assessment using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal tool: Checklist for Studies Reporting Prevalence Data. DistillerSR software will be used for the management of this review. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval is not required for this review as it will not directly involve human or animal subjects. The findings of our systematic review will be disseminated through publications in peer-reviewed journals, the Qualaxia Network (https://qualaxia.org), presentations at international conferences on mental health and pharmacoepidemiology, as well as general public events. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42021247423.
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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.