Table 3.
Comparison of antidepressant and cardiovascular prescribing as a proportion of the total number of items and cost for prescriptions in England 2015–2019.
| Year | Total items dispensed in England (Millions)1 | Total cost (£Millions)1 | Total AD items dispensed (Millions)2 | Total cost AD items (£Millions)3 | % of total items dispensed (AD)4 | % of total cost (AD)5 | Total CV items dispensed (Millions)6 | Total cost CV items (£Millions)7 | % of total items dispensed (CV)8 | % of total cost (CV)9 |
| 2015 | 1,084 | 9,267 | 58 | 202 | 5.32 | 2.18 | 207 | 295 | 19.11 | 3.19 |
| 2016 | 1,104 | 9,205 | 62 | 185 | 5.57 | 2.01 | 209 | 257 | 18.92 | 2.79 |
| 2017 | 1,106 | 9,167 | 65 | 171 | 5.84 | 1.87 | 210 | 268 | 18.95 | 2.92 |
| 2018 | 1,109 | 8,831 | 68 | 152 | 6.14 | 1.72 | 211 | 237 | 19.01 | 2.69 |
| 2019 | 1,120 | 9,079 | 72 | 146 | 6.44 | 1.6 | 213 | 284 | 19.01 | 3.13 |
| Total | 5,522 | 45,548 | 324 | 855 | 5.87 | 1.88 | 1,049 | 1,342 | 19 | 2.95 |
Values obtained from the prescription cost analysis for England 2019 data from the NHS Business Services Authority – the additional analysis tables Table A1 (Total items, cost, number of items and cost per capita, 2014 to 2019).Values are rounded to the nearest million for ease of display. Available from; https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/statistical-collections/prescription-cost-analysis/prescription-cost-analysis-england-2019
Total items dispensed per calendar year for the top 10 antidepressants (AD) (Table 1) from the Open Prescribing Database.
Total cost incurred for the top 10 antidepressants (AD) per calendar year from the Open Prescribing Database.
Antidepressant (AD) prescribing (top 10 items prescribed) expressed as a percentage of the total items dispensed per calendar year.
Cost of AD prescribing (top 10 items prescribed) per calendar year, expressed as a percentage of the total cost of prescribing in England.
Total items dispensed per calendar year for top 10 prescribed cardiovascular (CV) medicines (Table 1) from the Open Prescribing Database.
Total cost incurred per calendar year for top 10 prescribed cardiovascular (CV) medicines from the Open Prescribing Database.
Cardiovascular (CV) prescribing (top 10 items prescribed) expressed as a percentage of the total items dispensed per calendar year.
Cost of cardiovascular prescribing (CV) (top 10 items prescribed), per calendar year, expressed as a percentage of the total cost of prescribing in England.