Almost a quarter of an elderly U.S. population who were prescribed an antidepressant potentially received an overprescription, according to William V. Bobo, MD, MPH, of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., and his associates.
In a study published in Pharmacology Research & Perspectives, the authors drew data from the Rochester Epidemiology Project and included 3,199 incident antidepressant prescriptions from adults aged at least 65 years who lived in Olmsted County, Minn., from 2005 to 2012. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were the most commonly prescribed medication (40%), followed by trazodone/nefazodone (20%), tricyclic antidepressants (16%), and mirtazapine (12%). , 22% were for nonspecific symptoms, and 21% were for general medical diagnoses, Dr. Bobo and his associates reported.
Potential antidepressant overprescribing occurred in 24% of all prescriptions; SSRIs were most commonly overprescribed, accounting for 74% of all overprescriptions, followed by mirtazapine (19%). Overprescription was most common when antidepressants were prescribed for nonspecific psychiatric symptoms (18%), compared with specific psychiatric indications (3.5%) and general medical diagnoses (2.5%).
Other factors associated with antidepressant overprescription included living in a nursing home, having a higher number of comorbid medical conditions and outpatient prescribers, taking more concomitant medications, more commonly using urgent or acute care in the year prior to index prescription, and being prescribed antidepressants via telephone, email, or patient portal.
“Potential antidepressant overprescribing in a large cohort of elderly patients mainly involved the use of newer antidepressants for nonspecific psychiatric symptoms and indications,” the investigators wrote. “However, the majority of incident antidepressant starts did not represent potential overprescribing. When overprescribing occurred, it was associated with factors representing higher multimorbidity, clinical complexity, and severity – and with antidepressant prescribing that did not involve face-to-face interaction of patients with prescribers.”
The authors reported no conflicts of interest.
SOURCE: Bobo WV et al. Pharmacol Res Perspect. 2019 Jan 24. doi: 10.1002/prp2.461.