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COVID-19 Pandemic Accelerated Rate of Antidepressant Dispensing to Young People
Antidepressant dispensing to adolescents and young adults, already on the rise through 2019, rose 63.5% faster after the outbreak of COVID-19. University of Michigan researchers published their findings in Pediatrics.
“Antidepressant dispensing to adolescents and young adults was rising before the COVID-19 outbreak and rose even faster afterward,” said Kao-Ping Chua, MD, PhD, and co-authors in the study conclusion. “Future research should investigate the degree to which this increase was driven by changes in mental health, changes in access to mental health care, and changes in treatment patterns for mental health conditions.”
The authors utilized prescription data from the IQVIA Longitudinal Prescription Database to examine antidepressant dispensing to US individuals aged 12 to 25 from 2016 to 2022. The primary outcome under investigation was the monthly antidepressant dispensing rate (defined as the month number of individuals with at least 1 or more dispensed antidepressant prescription per 100,000 people). Analysis was conducted through fitted linear segmented regression models to assess for notable changes during March 2020. Researchers also conducted subgroup analyses according to sex and age group.
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Between January 2016 and December 2022, the monthly antidepressant dispensing rate increased 66.3%, from 2575.9 to 4284.8. Before March 2020, this rate increased by 17.0 per month (95% confidence interval: 15.2 to 18.8). No level change was associated with the COVID-19 outbreak, but there was a slope increase of 10.8 per month (95% confidence interval: 4.9 to 16.7).
From March 2020 onwards, the monthly antidepressant dispensing rate increased 63.5% faster compared to the pre-pandemic period. In subgroup analyses, this rate increased 129.6% and 56.5% faster from March 2020 onwards compared with beforehand among females aged 12 to 17 years and 18 to 25 years, respectively. The outbreak was not associated, however, with a level decrease among males aged 12 to 17 years or with a level or slope change among males aged 18 to 25 years.
“Our study provides important information on changes in mental health utilization patterns among young adults after the COVID-19 outbreak,” the authors concluded. “Findings suggest mental health may have worsened among female young adults after the outbreak, highlighting the importance of implementing interventions to promote mental health and improve access to mental health care in this population.”
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