Bastaki Kholoud, El Anbari Mohammed, Ghuloum Suhaila, Jithesh Puthen Veettil
College of Health & Life Sciences, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha 34110, Qatar.
Sidra Medicine, Doha 26999, Qatar.
J Pers Med. 2021 May 13;11(5):406. doi: 10.3390/jpm11050406.
Studying the prescription pattern of medications will help in understanding potential unnecessary prescriptions, due to the trial-and-error method of prescribing, and the need for personalized medicine in a population. Therefore, in this study, our aim was to explore the prescribing pattern and off-label use of antidepressants in the Qatari population. We conducted a retrospective study of Qatari patients who received prescriptions for antidepressants from the major healthcare providers in Qatar, for a period of 24 months between June 2018 and May 2020. The number of patients, prescriptions, and diagnostic indications were analyzed. The chi-square test was used for identifying statistically significant association of the number of individuals prescribed with age category or gender. Of the 14,601 Qatari patients who were prescribed antidepressants, the majority were female (61%, < 2.2 × 10), and were at or above 60 years of age (27%, < 2.2 × 10). More numbers of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) (22,085 out of 48,031; 46%), were dispensed than other classes of antidepressants, with escitalopram (26%) at the top of the list. Preponderance of prescription of antidepressants for non-mental health diseases was observed. Population-level prescription trends, as we reported here, when combined with patient genetic variability and outcome data, will have the power to predict the potential for treatment failures and adverse effects of these medications in the population. We also recommend educating non-mental health prescribers about the adherence to evidence and guidelines to ensure patient safety while prescribing antidepressants.
研究药物的处方模式将有助于理解由于试错式处方方法导致的潜在不必要处方，以及人群中个性化医疗的需求。因此，在本研究中，我们的目的是探索卡塔尔人群中抗抑郁药的处方模式和超说明书用药情况。我们对2018年6月至2020年5月期间从卡塔尔主要医疗服务提供者处接受抗抑郁药处方的卡塔尔患者进行了一项回顾性研究。分析了患者数量、处方数量和诊断指征。卡方检验用于确定按年龄类别或性别开处方的个体数量之间具有统计学意义的关联。在14601名开具抗抑郁药处方的卡塔尔患者中，大多数为女性（61%，<2.2×10），年龄在60岁及以上（27%，<2.2×10）。与其他类别的抗抑郁药相比，选择性5-羟色胺再摄取抑制剂（SSRI）的配药数量更多（48031例中有22085例；46%），其中艾司西酞普兰位居榜首（26%）。观察到抗抑郁药用于非心理健康疾病的处方占优势。正如我们在此报告的，人群层面的处方趋势与患者基因变异性和结果数据相结合，将有能力预测这些药物在人群中的治疗失败可能性和不良反应。我们还建议对非心理健康处方者进行关于遵循证据和指南的教育，以确保在开具抗抑郁药时患者的安全。
