Table 4.
Mean daily doses and differences in short-term and long-term (same SSRI ≥2 years) mean doses
| ADM <2 years (n = 1909) | ADM ≥2 years (n = 753) | Difference in mean dose (mg) 95% CI | Mann-Whitney U-test ‡ | All ADMs (n = 2662) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of ADMs (%) † | Mean dose (SD) mg | Number of ADMs (%) † | Mean dose (SD) mg | Number of ADMs (%) | Mean dose (SD) mg | |||
| Citalopram | 929 (34.9) | 25.8 (12.2) | 258 (9.7) | 31.2 (14.8) | 5.4 (3.6 to 7.2) | <0.001 | 1187 (44.6) | 27.0 (13.0) |
| Fluoxetine | 753 (28.3) | 27.2 (12.0) | 316 (11.9) | 30.6 (14.0) | 3.4 (1.6 to 5.2) | <0.001 | 1069 (40.2) | 28.2 (12.7) |
| Sertraline | 147 (5.5) | 91.0 (43.7) | 76 (2.9) | 106.6 (49.2) | 15.6 (2.3 to 28.8) | 0.019 | 223 (8.4) | 96.3 (46.1) |
| Paroxetine | 35 (1.3) | 28.0 (11.8) | 67 (2.5) | 29.4 (12.7) | 1.4 (-3.6 to 6.4) | 0.832 | 102 (3.8) | 28.9 (12.3) |
| Escitalopram | 44 (1.7) | 15.2 (5.6) | 35 (1.3) | 15.4 (6.8) | 0.2 (-2.6 to 3.0) | 0.94 | 79 (3.0) | 15.3 (6.1) |
| Fluvoxamine | 1 (0.0) | 1 (0.0) | 2 (0.1) | |||||
| Total | 1909 (71.7)† | 753 (28.3)† | 2662 (100%) | |||||
Note: Total mean dose and difference in doses between short-term and long-term use presented as means and SD to aid clarity of actual differences groups.
ADMs: antidepressant medicines. SD: standard deviation.
†: Percentage of total antidepressants prescribed to the 2662 patients.
‡: Dose distribution for ADM <2 years and ≥2 years compared using Mann-Whitney U-test.