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Relationship between suicide rate and antidepressant prescription: An ecological study in the People's Republic of China
Author(s) -
Xin Qianqian,
Paudel Dhirendra,
Li Liping,
Zhang Bin,
Yin Honglei
Publication year - 2021
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.2760
Subject(s) - antidepressant , demography , medical prescription , rate ratio , medicine , confidence interval , psychiatry , pharmacology , sociology , anxiety
Abstract Objectives The objective of this study was to estimate the features of suicide rate and its association with antidepressant prescriptions during the past decade in China. Methods Official data on suicides were obtained and stratified by four age groups, gender, urban/rural areas, and regions (East, Central, and West). The annual antidepressant prescriptions were expressed in pills per 100 persons calculated as the volume of prescriptions divided by the total population. Negative binomial regression was carried out to examine the association between suicide and other variables. Results Suicide rates in each stratum typically decreased from 2008 to 2015, while annual antidepressant prescriptions were generally increased by the year. The suicide rate increased with age and was greater in adult males than in females; higher in the central area and greater in rural than in urban areas. Suicide rates are negatively associated with antidepressant prescriptions including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (Incidence rate ratio [IRR] 0.983, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.983–0.983), serotonin–norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (IRR 0.951, 95% CI 0.951–0.951), tricyclic antidepressant (IRR 0.925, 95% CI 0.925–0.925) and total antidepressants (IRR 0.990, 95% CI 0.990–0.990) during 2008–2012. Conclusion Suicide varied among different studied stratum. Suicide rates are negatively associated with antidepressant prescriptions.