Pharmacotherapeutic strategies for patients treated for depression in UK primary care: a database analysis

AbstractObjective:To investigate long-term patterns of antidepressant treatment in patients in primary care in the UK, and to assess their healthcare resource use and disease outcomes.Research design and methods:A retrospective longitudinal cohort study was conducted using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink. The study population comprised patients aged ≥18 years with depression receiving a prescription for antidepressant monotherapy between 1 January 2006 and 31 December 2011 with no antidepressants within the preceding 6 months. Recovery was defined by timing of antidepressant prescriptions (≥6 months without treatment). Treatment lines and strategies (switching, combining, augmenting and resuming medication) were analyzed. Healthcare resource use for the different treatment strategies and periods of no therapy was assessed.Results:Data from 123,662 patients (287,564 treatment lines) were analyzed. Switching and resumption of treatment were more frequent than other strategies. Recovery was highest w...