Abstract
This study examined the factors associated with antidepressant use among community-dwelling elderly individuals. Data collected from the Bambuí Project, a population-based study on aging and health with a cohort of 1,606 elderly individuals, were used. Gender, age, education, marital status, household income and cohabitation status were the sociodemographic characteristics investigated. Health conditions included self-reported health, number of chronic diseases, depressive symptoms, cognitive impairment and functional disability. Poisson regression with robust variance was used to test associations and to estimate prevalence ratios with 95% confidence intervals. The prevalence of antidepressant use was 8.4%. After multivariate analysis, antidepressant use was associated with the female gender (PR = 2.96; 95%CI 1.82-4.81), being single or divorced (PR = 0.48; 95%CI 0.25-0.91), cognitive impairment (PR = 0.44; 95%CI 0.24-0.84) and worse self-reported health (poor/very poor) (PR=1.86; 95%CI 1.11-3.10). The results are similar to those observed in several other studies conducted in higher-income countries and suggest that self-reported health in the elderly population of Bambuí is a key factor in the decision to use antidepressants.
Highlights
Material and MethodsThe consumption of antidepressants has increased around the world over the last three decades[1,2,3]
Presence of depressive symptoms, cognitive impairment, poor/very poor self-reported health, and more number of chronic diseases were significantly associated with antidepressant use
Our results showed a global prevalence of antidepressant use of 8.4%
Summary
Material and MethodsThe consumption of antidepressants has increased around the world over the last three decades[1,2,3]. Antidepressants have become the most prescribed psychotropic drug[4]. This was due mainly to the introduction of new classes of antidepressants[5], which are safer and have better tolerability profile[6], and the expansion of the indications of these substances beyond psychiatric conditions[7]. Previous epidemiological studies conducted in different countries showed that the prevalence of antidepressant use ranged between 2.4% and 11.5%2,4,8,9, with higher prevalence of use among the elderly[8,10]. Classes of antidepressant most commonly prescribed and the factors associated with the antidepressants prescription among the elderly were similar to those observed in the general adult population. Older age, negative self-evaluation of health, functional limitation, and past history of depression were the most consistent socio-demographic and clinical predictors of antidepressant use[2,3,9,11,12]
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