The patterns of antidepressant drug prescribing: a retrospective study

Nowadays, many people have been stressed in their life due to various challenges in their life to keep living. This study shows how many people have been prescribed antidepressants by their doctors. Our study was done at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM) Kubang Kerian, Kelantan which is one of the major hospitals in Kelantan. Our studies subjects were the visitors who come to the Out-patient Pharmacy Department (OPD) from May 2015 to June 2015. We get all data from HUSM’s system itself with the authorisation from our supervisor. This data is collected according to the antidepressants that have been prescribed. The focus on this study is to relate their demographic factors which are ages, gender and races. From the data we manage to get, it shows that Escitalopram is the most commonly prescribed by the doctor as it compromising 32.2% of the total prescriptions. This was followed by Amitriptyline (22.5%) and Fluvoxamine (10.6%). In total, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRIs) formed 25.4% of all the prescriptions. Tricyclic antidepressants formed 23.9% of total prescription with Amitriptyline being the most commonly used tricyclic antidepressants. The other antidepressants were prescribed to 17.5% of the patients. There are only 3.2% of patients were prescribed more than one antidepressant. All in all, Escitalopram is the commonly prescribed antidepressants and SSRIs are most commonly prescribed class of antidepressants. Poly pharmacy in the form of concomitant use of two or more antidepressants is rarely practiced.