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null Antidepressants: rise in off-label prescriptions

A suspected reason for this trend is that primary care physicians are increasingly prescribing antidepressants for nondepressive indications

May 24, 2016

Antidepressant use in North America has increased over the last 2 decades. A suspected reason for this trend is that primary care physicians are increasingly prescribing antidepressants for nondepressive indications, including unapproved (off-label) indications that have not been evaluated by regulatory agencies.

In a study appearing in the May 24 issue of JAMA, Jenna Wong, a Ph.D student of Dr. Robyn Tamblyn in the department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, and colleagues from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) in Montreal analyzed treatment indications for antidepressants and assessed trends in antidepressant prescribing for depression. Read more