Antidepressant Medication Prescribing Practices for Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to describe the prescribing practices of clinicians for patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS: This population-based, descriptive study of insured patients (N=54,107) identified people who were 18 years or older, had a claim for MDD, had at least one prescription for an antidepressant medication in 2013, and had continuous insurance coverage during the study period. Prescription claims were evaluated to determine the most commonly prescribed antidepressant medication and most common dose. RESULTS: The three most commonly prescribed antidepressant medications were citalopram (N=11,995, 22.2%), sertraline (N=10,791, 19.9%), and trazodone (N=9,501, 17.6%). The most common daily doses were 20 mg citalopram (N=6,304, 52.6%), 50 mg sertraline (N=4,173, 38.7%), and 100 mg trazodone (N=3,220, 33.9%). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report of its kind that provides drug- and dosage-level details to demonstrate that antidepressant prescribing in clinical practice is largely within recommended guidelines.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Serotonin transmission is altered in depression.
“Serotonin transmission has long been known to be altered in depression, with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) being the most prescribed treatment for depression [50].”
From Effect of fecal microbiota transplant on symptoms of psychiatric disorders: a systematic review (2020) · cites this paper as [50]
SSRIs are the most prescribed treatment for depression.
“Serotonin transmission has long been known to be altered in depression, with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) being the most prescribed treatment for depression [50].”
From Effect of fecal microbiota transplant on symptoms of psychiatric disorders: a systematic review (2020) · cites this paper as [50]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
(2018) · Journal of Clinical Psychiatry · doi:10.5505/kpd · Cited by 13,703 · see citing works
Dworkin, R. H., O'connor, A., Audette, J. F., Baron, R., Gourlay, G. K., Haanpää, M. L., Kent, J. L., Krane, E. J., Lebel, A., Levy, R. M., et al. (2010) · Mayo Clinic Proceedings · doi:10.4065/mcp.2009.0649 · Cited by 1,324 · see citing works
Buysse, D. J. (2013) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.2013.193 · Cited by 965 · see citing works
Treatment preferences among depressed primary care patients
Dwight-Johnson, M., Sherbourne, C. D., Liao, D., & Wells, K. B. (2000) · Journal of General Internal Medicine · doi:10.1046/j.1525-1497.2000.08035.x · Cited by 478 · see citing works
National trends in the treatment for depression from 1998 to 2007
Marcus, S. C., & Olfson, M. (2010) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2010.151 · Cited by 312 · see citing works
Bowden, C. L. (1992) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.1992.03480050135044 · Cited by 271 · see citing works
Woolf, A. D., Erdman, A. R., Nelson, L. S., Caravati, E. M., Cobaugh, D. J., Booze, L. L., Wax, P. M., Manoguerra, A. S., Scharman, E. J., Olson, K. R., et al. (2007) · Clinical Toxicology · doi:10.1080/15563650701226192 · Cited by 161 · see citing works
Defining Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Comprehensive Review of the Literature
Trevino, K., McClintock, S. M., Fischer, N. M., Vora, A., & Husain, M. M. (2014) · Annals of Clinical Psychiatry · doi:10.1177/104012371402600310 · Cited by 130 · see citing works
National patterns of medication treatment for depression, 1987 to 2001
Stafford, R. S., MacDonald, E. A., & Finkelstein, S. N. (2001) · The Primary Care Companion For CNS Disorders · doi:10.4088/pcc.v03n0611 · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Trends in Antidepressant Utilization From 2001 to 2004
Harman, J. S., Edlund, M. J., & Fortney, J. C. (2009) · Psychiatric Services · doi:10.1176/ps.2009.60.5.611 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Antidepressant prescribing: a comparison between general practitioners and psychiatrists.
Kerr, M. (1994) · Europe PMC (PubMed Central) · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Mashiko, H., Niwa, S., Kumashiro, H., et al. (1999) · Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences · doi:10.1046/j.1440-1819.1999.00532.x · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Effect of fecal microbiota transplant on symptoms of psychiatric disorders: a systematic review
Chinna Meyyappan, A., Forth, E., Wallace, C. J. K., & Milev, R. (2020) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/s12888-020-02654-5 · Cited by 254 · see citing works
Ross, E. L., & Soeteman, D. I. (2020) · Psychiatric Services · doi:10.1176/appi.ps.201900625 · Cited by 51 · see citing works
- Authors
- Treviño, L. A., Ruble, M. W., Treviño, K., Weinstein, L. M., & Gresky, D. P.
- Affiliations
- Dr. Lara Treviño and Dr. Gresky are with the Department of Clinical Analytics, Humana Inc., Irving, Texas (e-mail: l). Dr. Ruble and Dr. Weinstein are with the Department of Medical Affairs, Humana Behavioral Health, Irving. Dr. Kenneth Treviño is in private practice in Dallas.
- ORCID
- Ruble, Matthew W.
- Venue
- Psychiatric Services
- Published
- 2017-02-01
- Volume
- 68
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 199-202
- ISSN
- 0022-1597 (ISSN-L)
- 1075-2730
- 1557-9700
- OpenAlex
- W2528185915
- Cited by
- 25
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 3
- FWCI
- 0.81
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Psychiatric Services (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychological Treatments and Disorders
- Keywords
- major depressive disorder, antidepressant prescribing, prescribing patterns, citalopram, sertraline, trazodone, antidepressant dosing, guideline adherence, prescription claims data
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Antidepressive Agents, Major Depressive Disorder, Female, Humans, Insurance, Health, Male, Middle Aged, Practice Patterns, Physicians', Drug Prescriptions, Trazodone, United States, Citalopram, Sertraline, Young Adult
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
