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Influences on the use of antidepressants in primary care: All England general practice‐level analysis of demographic, practice‐level and prescriber factors
Author(s) -
Heald Adrian H.,
Stedman Mike,
Davies Mark,
Farman Sanam,
Upthegrove Rachel,
Taylor David,
Gadsby Roger
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
human psychopharmacology: clinical and experimental
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.461
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1099-1077
pISSN - 0885-6222
DOI - 10.1002/hup.2741
Subject(s) - medical prescription , medicine , demographics , public health , population , regression analysis , antidepressant , demography , family medicine , environmental health , psychiatry , statistics , nursing , sociology , anxiety , mathematics
General practice (GP) antidepressants (ADs) prescribing in England has almost doubled in the past decade: how does location, GP characteristics, and prescribing selection influence antidepressant prescribing rate (ADPR) and growth. Methods Stepwise multivariate regression analysis was applied to national public relevant data for each general practice to establish associations between these factors and ADPR. The regression coefficient was applied to the actual change in the number of different ADs and costs/dose to extrapolate the impact of these on growth. Results In 2017–2018, 2.1 billion doses of antidepressant were prescribed into a population of 52 million people in 6,146 larger practices. In the model, location demographics accounted for 62% of the variation in ADPR: including practice size and health raised this to 71%, and local prescribing behaviour to 80%. Practices using more different drugs and lower‐cost/dose had higher ADPR. Extrapolation showed that 40% of growth in ADPR could be attributed to the historic changes in these factors. Conclusions While practice location factors do impact on AD prescription rates, local long‐term physical health condition prevalence and prescribing behaviours are almost as important. We hope that our findings can provide insights that are helpful to local clinical behaviour and medicines management.