TITLE:
Associations between the Use of Antidepressants and Other Medications
AUTHORS:
Ray M. Merrill, Arielle A. Sloan
KEYWORDS:
Depression; LDS; Antidepressant; Epidemiology
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Depression,
Vol.3 No.1,
February
28,
2014
ABSTRACT: Purpose: The purpose of this study was to use a pharmacy claims database to identify associations betweenand the timing of antidepressant and other medication use by age and sex. Material/Methods: A retrospectivecohort study was conducted of the 70,519 members of the Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators(DMBA) insurance company who were continuously covered from the years 2001-2011. Results:During 2009-2011, 13.3% of males and 21.6% of females had at least one pharmacy claim for antidepressants.Those prescribed one of 25 different drug classifications were more likely than the generalpopulation to have used antidepressants the previous year. For all of the drug classifications, the use ofantidepressants was significantly more common the same year and the year after the drug was first prescribed.The positive association between antidepressant use and other selected drug classifications generallydepended on age rather than sex, with the positive association more pronounced in the youngest agegroup. Conclusion: The positive association between antidepressant use and other selected drug classificationssuggests that depression may both lead to and result from many chronic diseases. This associationis the strongest among younger individuals, so this age group proves a valuable target for public healthinterventions.