Table 2.
Comparison of demographic characteristics, past service use and past psychotropic medication use by antidepressant category
| Any one SNRI and mirtazapine n=89 |
Any one SSRI and mirtazapine n=110 |
Any two SSRIs n=89 |
Citalopram n=213 |
Escitalopram n=52 |
Fluoxetine n=200 |
Mirtazapine n=305 |
Sertraline n=360 |
Venlafaxine n=143 |
Total n=1561 (%) |
Test statistic; p values*† | |
| Demographics | |||||||||||
| Mean age in years (SD) | 52.9 (16.6) | 48.6 (18.6) | 34.1 (16.2) | 42.7 (15.5) | 44.1 (16.3) | 33.3 (16.0) | 49.2 (18.8) | 39.3 (16.8) | 48.8 (18.1) | 43.8 (18.2) | 25.38 |
| Median age in years | 52 | 48 | 33 | 42 | 44 | 30 | 47 | 38 | 48 | 41 | <0.001 |
| Gender: female | 60 (67.4%) | 65 (59.6) | 64 (71.9) | 147 (69) | 35 (67.3) | 139 (69.5) | 138 (45.2) | 251 (69.7) | 91 (63.6) | 990 (63.4) | 60.07 |
| Male | 29 (32.6%) | 44 (40.4) | 25 (28.1) | 66 (31) | 17 (32.70) | 61 (30.5) | 167 (54.8) | 109 (30.3) | 52 (36.4) | 571 (36.6) | <0.001 |
| Ethnicity: white | 61 (68.5%) | 69 (62.7) | 49 (55.1) | 135 (63.4) | 39 (75) | 127 (63.5) | 176 (57.7) | 213 (59.2) | 101 (70.6) | 970 (62.1) | 15.70 |
| Other | 28 (31.5%) | 41 (37.3) | 40 (44.9) | 78 (36.6) | 13 (25) | 73 (36.5) | 129 (42.3) | 147 (40.8) | 42 (29.4) | 591 (37.9) | 0.05 |
| Marital status: single | 34 (38.2%) | 61 (55.5) | 47 (52.8) | 127 (59.6) | 25 (48.1) | 133 (66.5) | 169 (55.4) | 216 (60) | 79 (55.2) | 891 (57.1) | df=16 |
| Married | 31 (34.8%) | 26 (23.6) | 24 (27.0) | 40 (18.8) | 18 (34.6) | 23 (11.5) | 72 (23.6) | 80 (22.2) | 35 (24.5) | 349 (22.3) | 37.40 |
| Other | 24 (27%) | 23 (20.9) | 18 (20.2) | 46 (21.6) | 9 (17.3) | 44 (22) | 64 (21) | 64 (17.8) | 29 (20.3) | 321 (20.6) | 0.002 |
| Area-level deprivation score | |||||||||||
| First tertile‡ (2.25–22.3) | 29 (32.6%) | 27 (25.5) | 31 (34.8) | 62 (29.5) | 20 (38.5) | 64 (32.3) | 82 (27.2) | 122 (34.5) | 60 (42.9) | 497 (31.8) | df=16 |
| Second tertile | 50 (56.2%) | 67 (63.2) | 44 (49.4) | 131 (62.4) | 26 (50) | 120 (60.6) | 184 (60.9) | 205 (57.9) | 71 (50.7) | 898 (57.5) | 26.33 |
| Third tertile (42.3–62.3) | 10 (11.2%) | 12 (11.3) | 14 (15.7) | 17 (8.1) | 6 (11.5) | 14 (7.1) | 36 (11.9) | 27 (7.6) | 9 (6.4) | 145 (9.3) | 0.05 |
| Referral data | |||||||||||
| Length of spell: mean years (SD) |
0.91 (2.45) |
0.94 (1.94) |
0.51 (0.77) |
0.80 (2.80) |
1.04 (1.50) |
0.81 (1.16) |
0.90 (1.64) |
0.73 (1.27) |
1.40 (3.00) |
1561 | 2.00 0.043 |
| Past§ inpatient at SLaM: yes | 16 (18%) | 24 (21.8) | 16 (18) | 18 (8.5) | 3 (5.8) | 13 (6.5) | 32 (10.5) | 47 (13.1) | 16 (11.2) | 185 (11.9) | 27.64 |
| No | 73 (82%) | 86 (78.2) | 73 (82) | 195 (91.5) | 49 (94.2) | 187 (93.5) | 273 (89.5) | 313 (86.9) | 127 (88.8) | 1376 (88.2) | <0.001 |
| Past§ medication use | |||||||||||
| Benzodiazepine use: yes | 26 (29.2%) | 25 (22.7) | 19 (21.4) | 35 (16.4) | 11 (21.2) | 21 (10.5) | 71 (23.3) | 55 (15.3) | 36 (25.2) | 299 (19.1) | 28.01 |
| No, (%) | 63 (70.8%) | 85 (77.3) | 70 (78.6) | 178 (83.6) | 41 (78.8) | 179 (89.5) | 234 (76.7) | 305 (84.7) | 107 (74.8) | 1262 (80.8) | <0.001 |
| Antipsychotic use: yes | 39 (43.8%) | 35 (31.8) | 22 (24.7) | 46 (21.6) | 18 (34.6) | 41 (20.5) | 97 (31.8) | 92 (25.6) | 53 (37.1) | 443 (28.3) | 32.07 |
| No | 50 (56.2%) | 75 (68.2) | 67 (75.3) | 167 (78.4) | 34 (65.4) | 159 (79.5) | 208 (68.2) | 268 (74.4) | 90 (62.9) | 1118 (71.6) | <0.001 |
| Mood stabiliser use: yes | 13 (14.6%) | 7 (6.4) | 5 (5.6) | 8 (3.8) | 6 (11.5) | 10 (5) | 19 (6.2) | 15 (4.2) | 21 (14.7) | 104 (6.7) | 33.48 |
| No | 76 (85.4%) | 103 (93.6) | 84 (94.4) | 205 (96.2) | 46 (88.4) | 190 (95) | 286 (93.8) | 345 (95.8) | 122 (85.3) | 1457 (93.3) | <0.001 |
| Antidepressant use: yes | 82 (92.1%) | 86 (78.2) | 61 (68.5) | 132 (62) | 41 (78.8) | 150 (75) | 233 (76.4) | 273 (75.8) | 114 (79.7) | 1172 (75.1) | 38.43 |
| No |
7 (7.9%) | 24 (21.8) | 28 (31.5) | 81 (38) | 11 (21.2) | 50 (25) | 72 (23.6) | 87 (24.2) | 29 (20.3) | 389 (24.9) | <0.001 |
| Past§ psychological therapy referral | |||||||||||
| Psychotherapy referral: yes | 13 (14.6%) | 18 (16.4) | 11 (12.4) | 14 (6.6) | 7 (13.5) | 22 (11) | 29 (9.5) | 46 (12.8) | 19 (13.3) | 179 (11.5) | 11.03 |
| No | 76 (85.4%) | 92 (83.6) | 78 (87.6) | 199 (93.4) | 45 (86.5) | 178 (89) | 276 (90.5) | 314 (87.2) | 124 (86.7) | 1382 (88.5) | 0.200 |
| IAPT referral: yes | 51 (57.3%) | 50 (45.5) | 40 (44.9) | 108 (50.7) | 27 (51.9) | 77 (38.5) | 131 (42.9) | 181 (50.3) | 58 (40.6) | 723 (46.3) | 17.21 |
| No | 38 (42.7%) | 60 (54.5) | 49 (55.1) | 105 (49.3) | 25 (48.1) | 123 (61.5) | 174 (57.1) | 179 (49.7) | 85 (59.4) | 838 (53.7) | 0.028 |
*ANOVA, χ2 test, t-tests or the Kruskal-Wallis tests were conducted to test differences between patient groups.
†df=8, unless otherwise specified.
‡Area-level deprivation tertiles (first tertile: least deprived; third tertile: most deprived).
§‘Past’ refers to the 12 months prior to the observation window.
ANOVA, analysis of variance; IAPT, improving access to psychiatric treatment; SLaM, South London and Maudsley; SNRI, selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor; SSRI, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor.