More and more people are taking antidepressants

People in OECD countries are taking more and more pills

21/11/2013

The recent OECD Health Report pointed to concerns that people in the Member States are always using antidepressants. The responsible persons see the reason not only in a possible revision and the advancement of the „permanent“ Accessibility through smartphones and other Internet-enabled products. For them, the euro crisis also contributes to the fact that the use of antidepressant medicines has steadily increased since the year 2000, as shown in their report „Health at Glance 2013“ can be seen. According to them, people in Iceland take the most medication for depression, followed by Australia, Canada, Sweden and Denmark.

In 2011 alone, 106 doses of this drug group were prescribed per 1000 residents per day. In 2000, there were still about 70. But also in Australia, where the daily dose in 2011 was still 89 cans per 1000 inhabitants, there was a noticeable increase. Eleven years ago, not even 50 were prescribed there.

Looking at the average of all OECD countries, it is noticeable that the use of antidepressants has risen sharply in recent years. In 2000, the doctors prescribed around 30 daily doses per 1000 inhabitants, which rose to 50 doses in 2011.

Germany below the OECD average
Germany is 50 doses per day below the OECD average. Looking more closely at the increase, it can be seen that this has progressed faster, because in the year 2000, just under 20 doses per day were prescribed per 1000 inhabitants. But what is the reason why more and more people take antidepressants? In its report, the OECD points to other guidelines for prescribing and mentions different treatments of doctors and psychiatrists in other countries. Another reason, according to the OECD, could be that the duration of treatment for depression has increased in some countries. For example, in England such diseases are treated for longer than in the past. The increase in daily doses could also be due to the fact that antidepressants are increasingly being prescribed for even mild forms of depression.

The OECD also mentions another possible reason in the report: Reports from the past few months that suicide rates have gone up in crisis countries such as Greece could be linked to the euro crisis. The rise in prescriptions of antidepressants in crisis-hit countries could also be associated with this, according to the OECD. In Portugal, the use of antidepressants increased by 20 percent between 2007 and 2011, and by 23 percent in Spain. But even in Germany, which is barely affected by the effects of the crisis, use increased by 46 percent.

Health expenses were reduced
The crisis, as the OECD notes in the report, has also contributed to many countries having severely curtailed healthcare spending and alternative forms of medication prescription. In 2011, Germany was still two percent above the OECD average. However, it has to be taken into account that in this country people are treated more in hospitals than in the other countries. (Fr)

Picture: Peter Franz