“… 16 It was not surprising because their exposure was defined as at least one antidepressant documented in the home medication list at any encounter prior to the date of the first positive SARS-CoV-2 test, within a relatively wider time frame. Although the prevalence of antidepressant use in the general population in Hong Kong was unavailable, our estimate is within a range reported in different regions - the prevalence of antidepressant use was found to be 0.64% based on the national health insurance database of mainland China in 2017, 43 7.2% from 27 European countries in 2010, 44 and 13.2% among American adults between 2015 and 2018, 45 respectively. The inconsistency between Hong Kong and other regions could be owing to a difference in healthcare systems and population characteristics.…”