Antidepressant use in low- middle- and high-income countries: a World Mental Health Surveys report.

Journal: Psychological medicine

Volume: 53

Issue: 4

Year of Publication: 2023

Affiliated Institutions:  Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital & College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan. Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. College of Medicine, Al-Qadisiya University, Diwaniya governorate, Al Diwaniyah, Iraq. Health Services Research Unit, IMIM-Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain. Núcleo de Epidemiologia Psiquiátrica - LIM , Instituto de Psiquiatria Hospital das Clinicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. Department of Epidemiologic and Psychosocial Research, National Institute of Psychiatry Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz, Mexico City, Mexico. Lisbon Institute of Global Mental Health and Chronic Diseases Research Center (CEDOC), NOVA Medical School | Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal. IRCCS Istituto Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy. Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands. National School of Public Health, Management and Development, Bucharest, Romania. Department of Psychiatry, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria. Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, CIBERSAM, Universitat de Barcelona, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain. School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Herston, QLD , Australia. Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, St George Hospital University Medical Center, Balamand University, Beirut, Lebanon. Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Santé Publique (EHESP), EA , Paris Descartes University, Paris, France. Department of Psychiatry, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong. Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, The Park Centre for Mental Health, Wacol QLD , Australia. UDIF-SM, Servicio Murciano de Salud; IMIB-Arrixaca; CIBERESP-Murcia, Región de Murcia, Spain. Department of Mental Health, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. Colegio Mayor de Cundinamarca University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Bogota, Colombia. Department of Psychiatry & Mental Health and South African Medical Council Research Unit on Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa. Department of Psychiatry, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey. Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Department of Mental Health, National Center of Public Health and Analyses, Sofia, Bulgaria.

Abstract summary 

The most common treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) is antidepressant medication (ADM). Results are reported on frequency of ADM use, reasons for use, and perceived effectiveness of use in general population surveys across 20 countries.Face-to-face interviews with community samples totaling = 49 919 respondents in the World Health Organization (WHO) World Mental Health (WMH) Surveys asked about ADM use anytime in the prior 12 months in conjunction with validated fully structured diagnostic interviews. Treatment questions were administered independently of diagnoses and asked of all respondents.3.1% of respondents reported ADM use within the past 12 months. In high-income countries (HICs), depression (49.2%) and anxiety (36.4%) were the most common reasons for use. In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), depression (38.4%) and sleep problems (31.9%) were the most common reasons for use. Prevalence of use was 2-4 times as high in HICs as LMICs across all examined diagnoses. Newer ADMs were proportionally used more often in HICs than LMICs. Across all conditions, ADMs were reported as effective by 58.8% of users and effective by an additional 28.3% of users, with both proportions higher in LMICs than HICs. Neither ADM class nor reason for use was a significant predictor of perceived effectiveness.ADMs are in widespread use and for a variety of conditions including but going beyond depression and anxiety. In a general population sample from multiple LMICs and HICs, ADMs were widely perceived to be either very or somewhat effective by the people who use them.

Authors & Co-authors:  Kazdin Alan E AE Wu Chi-Shin CS Hwang Irving I Puac-Polanco Victor V Sampson Nancy A NA Al-Hamzawi Ali A Alonso Jordi J Andrade Laura Helena LH Benjet Corina C Caldas-de-Almeida José-Miguel JM de Girolamo Giovanni G de Jonge Peter P Florescu Silvia S Gureje Oye O Haro Josep M JM Harris Meredith G MG Karam Elie G EG Karam Georges G Kovess-Masfety Viviane V Lee Sing S McGrath John J JJ Navarro-Mateu Fernando F Nishi Daisuke D Oladeji Bibilola D BD Posada-Villa José J Stein Dan J DJ Üstün T Bedirhan TB Vigo Daniel V DV Zarkov Zahari Z Zaslavsky Alan M AM Kessler Ronald C RC

Study Outcome 

Source Link: Visit source

Statistics
Citations :  Abbing-Karahagopian V, Huerta C, Souverein P, De Abajo F, Leufkens H, Slattery J, . . . Oliva B (2014). Antidepressant prescribing in five European countries: application of common definitions to assess the prevalence, clinical observations, and methodological implications. European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 70, 849–857. 10.1007/s00228-014-1676-z.
Authors :  32
Identifiers
Doi : 10.1017/S0033291721003160
SSN : 1469-8978
Study Population
Male,Female
Mesh Terms
Humans
Other Terms
Antidepressant medications;perceived effectiveness;reasons for use
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Study Approach
Country of Study
Publication Country
England