Exploring potential explanations for the increase in antidepressant prescribing in Scotland using secondary analyses of routine data

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Antidepressant prescribing in general practice has dramatically increased since the beginning of the last decade. AIM: To determine if the increase in antidepressants prescribed in Scotland between 1995 and 2001 was due to increase in incidence, prevalence, care-seeking behaviour by patients, or identification by GPs of depression. METHOD: Secondary analysis of routine data. Prescribing information was obtained from Information and Statistics Division Scotland, psychosocial morbidity from the Scottish Health Surveys of 1995 and 1998 and GP consultations from the continuous morbidity recording (CMR) dataset. Annual trends in antidepressant prescribing for prescriptions, gross ingr..