Gender and psychotropic drug use.

OBJECTIVES

Although studies have documented women's greater use of prescribed psychotropic drugs, few have explicitly examined how women and men differ in psychotropic drug use. This study examines gender differences in aggregate psychotropic drug use, as well as use of specific therapeutic categories, and explores how other factors explaining psychotropic drug use vary by gender.

METHODS

Using 1989 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) data, logistic regression analysis is used to estimate the probability of psychotropic drug use in aggregate and for four therapeutic categories--anxiolytics, sedative-hypnotics, antidepressants, and antipsychotics. For equations where gender is statistically significant, separate logistic regression equations are estimated to determine the explanatory variables that vary by gender.

RESULTS

The probability of receiving any psychotropic drug is 55% greater in office visits by women than those by men, all else constant. Further, gender is a positive and significant predictor of anxiolytic and antidepressant use. Variables estimating anxiolytic and antidepressant use that differ by gender include diagnosis, physician specialty, and payment source for the office visit.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings confirm research that has demonstrated that women are more likely than men to receive any psychotropic drug in office-based care. This gender differential holds only for anxiolytics and antidepressants. In addition, there were significant differences in the predictors of drug use for women and men.