Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-5nwft Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-04T21:32:00.677Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Prescription pattern of antidepressants in out-patient psychiatric practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

C. Munizza ,
G. Tibaldi ,
P. Bollini ,
E. Pirfo ,
F. Punzo  and
F. Gramaglia
C. Munizza*
Affiliation:
Centro Studi e Ricerche in Psichiatria, Turin, Italy
G. Tibaldi
Affiliation:
Centro Studi e Ricerche in Psichiatria, Turin, Italy
P. Bollini
Affiliation:
Centro Studi e Ricerche in Psichiatria, Turin, Italy
E. Pirfo
Affiliation:
Centro Studi e Ricerche in Psichiatria, Turin, Italy
F. Punzo
Affiliation:
Centro Studi e Ricerche in Psichiatria, Turin, Italy
F. Gramaglia
Affiliation:
Centro Studi e Ricerche in Psichiatria, Turin, Italy
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Carmine Munizza, Centro Studi e Ricerche in Psichiatria, Piazza del Donatore di Sangue 3, 10155 Turin, Italy.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

The prescription pattern of antidepressants was reviewed in a large sample of psychiatric out-patients in the Region of Piedmont. Antidepressants were administered to 780 patients; most were diagnosed with mood disorders (62% of prescriptions) and anxiety disorders (34%), the rest with other diagnoses. The mean prescribed dose of antidepressants was at the lower end of, or below, the recommended range for out-patients, with the exception of amineptine and mianserin. The administered dose of tricyclic antidepressants was significantly associated with sex and diagnosis: female patients received a daily dose that was significantly lower than that for males, and patients with a diagnosis of mood disorders received significantly more medication than those with other diagnoses.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 25 , Issue 4 , July 1995 , pp. 771 - 778
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baldessarini, R. J. (1985). Antidepressant agents. In Chemotherapy in Psychiatry. Principles and Practice (ed. Baldessarini, R. J.), pp. 130–234. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Baldessarini, R. J. (1991). Drugs and the treatment of psychiatric disorders. In Goodman and Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics (ed. Goodman, L. S., Gilman, A., Rail, A. W., Nies, A. S. and Taylor, P.), pp. 383–435. Pergamon Press L. D. T.: Oxford.Google Scholar
Balestrieri, M., Bragagnoli, N. & Bellantuono, C. (1991). Antidepressant drug prescribing in general practice: a six-year study. Journal of Affective Disorders 21, 45–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, T. (1985). Psychiatric reform in Italy. How does it work in Piedmont? British Journal of Psychiatry 147, 254–260.Google Scholar
Bollini, P. & Mollica, R. (1989). Surviving without the asylum: an overview of the studies on the Italian Reform movement. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 177, 607–615.Google Scholar
Bridges, P. K. (1983). ‘… and a small dose of an antidepressant might help’. British Journal of Psychiatry 142, 626–628.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryant, S. G., Hokanson, J. A. & Brown, C. S. (1990). A drug utilization review of prescribing patterns for trazodone versus amitriptyline. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 51 Suppl., pp. 27–29.Google Scholar
Conte, H. R. & Karasu, T. B. (1992). A review of treatment studies of minor depression: 1980–1991. American Journal of Psychotherapy XLVI, 58–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisenberg, L. (1992). Treating depression and anxiety in primary care. Closing the gap between knowledge and practice. New England Journal of Medicine 326, 1080–1084.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glick, I. D., Burti, L., Suzuki, K. & Sacks, M. (1991). Effectiveness in psychiatric care. I. A cross-national study of the process of treatment and outcome of major depressive disorders. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 179, 55–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenberg, R. P. & Fisher, S. (1989). Examining antidepressant effectiveness: findings, ambiguities, and some vexing puzzles. In The Limits of Biological Treatments for Psychological Distress. Comparisons with Psychotherapy and Placebo (ed. Fisher, S. and Greenberg, R. P.), pp. 1–38. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Hillsdale, NJ.Google Scholar
Holloway, F. (1988). Prescribing for the long-term mentally ill. A study of treatment practices. British Journal of Psychiatry 152, 511–515.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raton, W., Von Korff, M., Lin, E., Bush, T. & Ormel, J. (1992). Adequacy and duration of antidepressant treatment in primary care. Medical Care 30, 67–76.Google Scholar
Keller, M. G., Klerman, G. L., Lavori, P. W., Fawcett, J. A., Coryell, W. & Endicott, J. (1982). Treatment received by depressed patients. Journal of the American Medical Association 248, 1848–1855.Google Scholar
Istituto Centrale di Statistica (1988). Le Regioni in Cifre. ISTAT: Rome.Google Scholar
McCombs, J. S., Nichol, M. B., Stimmel, G. L., Sclar, D. A., Beasley, C. M. Jr. & Gross, L. S. (1990). The cost of antidepressant drug therapy failure: a study of antidepressant use patterns in a Medicaid population. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 51, Suppl., pp. 60–69.Google Scholar
Muscettola, G., Casiello, M., Bollini, P., Sebastiani, G., Pampallona, S. & Tognoni, G. (1987). Patterns of therapeutic intervention and role of psychiatric settings: a survey in two regions of Italy. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 75, 55–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Quitkin, F. M. (1985). The importance of dosage in prescribing antidepressants. British Journal of Psychiatry 147, 593–597.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Quitkin, F. M. (1992). Methodology of measuring the efficacy of antidepressants. Psychopharmacology 106, S87–S89.Google Scholar
Roemer, M. I. (1991). National Health Systems of the World, vol. I. The Countries. Oxford University Press: New York.Google Scholar
Schulz, P., Strasser, O., Glauser, D. & Fischer, W. (1984). Prescribing patterns in an outpatient psychiatric clinic. European Archives of Psychiatric and Neurological Sciences 234, 220–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Speight, T. M. (ed.) (1987). Avery's Drug Treatment. Principles and Practice of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 3rd edn. Adis Press: Oakland.Google Scholar
Wexler, B. E. & Cicchetti, D. V. (1992). The outpatient treatment of depression. Implications of outcome research for clinical practice. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 180, 277–286.Google Scholar
Williams, P., Bellantuono, C., Fiorio, R. & Tansella, M. (1986). Psychotropic drug use in Italy: national trends and regional differences. Psychological Medicine 16, 841–850.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed