USA Antidepressant Prescriptions Rose In 10% 2005

[Guest guest]

Antidepressant Prescriptions Rose In 2005 8 Comments By Ed Silverman // July 24th, 2008 // 10:40 am

The increase amounted to roughly 10 percent, and that occurred in a year in which new and controversial Black Box warnings were added to the labeling on the medications. The data was just released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a unit of the US Health and Human Services Department.

Those warnings sparked a debate over whether some doctors and patients were being scared away from useful drugs and, therefore, causing an increase in suicides. This contention then prompted an FDA official to say the warnings may have to be revisited if federal data yields such an increase, although the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention has yet to issue more recent numbers. (Back story).

The AHRQ found that, in 2002, there were 154.1 million antidepressant prescription purchases in the U.S. civilian non-institutionalized population, and by 2005, that rose to 169.9 million. Psycyhiatrists wrote the largest share of prescriptions, but that fell from 33.6 percent in 2002 to 29.3 percent three years later.

The percentages for all other specialties in the top four that prescribed antidepressants remained stable when 2002 was compared with 2005 - general practice, 22.7 percent versus 22.6 percent; family practice, 17.7 percent versus 20.5 percent; and internal medicine 10.8 versus 10.0 percent. Here is the AHRQ report.

http://www.pharmalot.com/

[Guest guest]

Antidepressant Prescriptions Rose In 2005 8 Comments By Ed Silverman // July 24th, 2008 // 10:40 am

The increase amounted to roughly 10 percent, and that occurred in a year in which new and controversial Black Box warnings were added to the labeling on the medications. The data was just released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a unit of the US Health and Human Services Department.

Those warnings sparked a debate over whether some doctors and patients were being scared away from useful drugs and, therefore, causing an increase in suicides. This contention then prompted an FDA official to say the warnings may have to be revisited if federal data yields such an increase, although the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention has yet to issue more recent numbers. (Back story).

The AHRQ found that, in 2002, there were 154.1 million antidepressant prescription purchases in the U.S. civilian non-institutionalized population, and by 2005, that rose to 169.9 million. Psycyhiatrists wrote the largest share of prescriptions, but that fell from 33.6 percent in 2002 to 29.3 percent three years later.

The percentages for all other specialties in the top four that prescribed antidepressants remained stable when 2002 was compared with 2005 - general practice, 22.7 percent versus 22.6 percent; family practice, 17.7 percent versus 20.5 percent; and internal medicine 10.8 versus 10.0 percent. Here is the AHRQ report.

http://www.pharmalot.com/

[Guest guest]

Antidepressant Prescriptions Rose In 2005 8 Comments By Ed Silverman // July 24th, 2008 // 10:40 am

The increase amounted to roughly 10 percent, and that occurred in a year in which new and controversial Black Box warnings were added to the labeling on the medications. The data was just released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a unit of the US Health and Human Services Department.

Those warnings sparked a debate over whether some doctors and patients were being scared away from useful drugs and, therefore, causing an increase in suicides. This contention then prompted an FDA official to say the warnings may have to be revisited if federal data yields such an increase, although the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention has yet to issue more recent numbers. (Back story).

The AHRQ found that, in 2002, there were 154.1 million antidepressant prescription purchases in the U.S. civilian non-institutionalized population, and by 2005, that rose to 169.9 million. Psycyhiatrists wrote the largest share of prescriptions, but that fell from 33.6 percent in 2002 to 29.3 percent three years later.

The percentages for all other specialties in the top four that prescribed antidepressants remained stable when 2002 was compared with 2005 - general practice, 22.7 percent versus 22.6 percent; family practice, 17.7 percent versus 20.5 percent; and internal medicine 10.8 versus 10.0 percent. Here is the AHRQ report.

http://www.pharmalot.com/

[Guest guest]

Antidepressant Prescriptions Rose In 2005 8 Comments By Ed Silverman // July 24th, 2008 // 10:40 am

The increase amounted to roughly 10 percent, and that occurred in a year in which new and controversial Black Box warnings were added to the labeling on the medications. The data was just released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a unit of the US Health and Human Services Department.

Those warnings sparked a debate over whether some doctors and patients were being scared away from useful drugs and, therefore, causing an increase in suicides. This contention then prompted an FDA official to say the warnings may have to be revisited if federal data yields such an increase, although the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention has yet to issue more recent numbers. (Back story).

The AHRQ found that, in 2002, there were 154.1 million antidepressant prescription purchases in the U.S. civilian non-institutionalized population, and by 2005, that rose to 169.9 million. Psycyhiatrists wrote the largest share of prescriptions, but that fell from 33.6 percent in 2002 to 29.3 percent three years later.

The percentages for all other specialties in the top four that prescribed antidepressants remained stable when 2002 was compared with 2005 - general practice, 22.7 percent versus 22.6 percent; family practice, 17.7 percent versus 20.5 percent; and internal medicine 10.8 versus 10.0 percent. Here is the AHRQ report.

http://www.pharmalot.com/