Discontinuation of Use and Switching of Antidepressants

Abstract

Discrepancies exist between instructions that physicians report they communicate to patients and what patients remember being told. Explicit instructions about expected duration of therapy and discussions about medication adverse effects throughout treatment may reduce discontinuation of SSRI use. Our finding that patients with 3 or more follow-up visits were more likely to continue using the initially prescribed antidepressant medication suggests that frequent patient-physician contact may increase the probability that patients will continue therapy.

Psychotropic Medication Nonadherence Among United States Latinos: A Comprehensive Literature Review

“…Study objectives varied, with some focusing specifically on adherence (1, 6, 41, 44–47, 49, 51–60) while others measured adherence as part of studies addressing different questions. Geographically, eight were based in California (6, 42, 43, 47, 48, 50, 54, 55), two in Texas (41, 51), one in New Mexico (52), one in New York (49), one in Connecticut (56), one in Ohio (40), and four were from Veteran’s Administration National Registries (46, 58–60), and three were national studies (1, 45, 57). …”

“…Twelve reports (N= 12) investigated nonadherence to antipsychotics (1, 6, 41–43, 46, 49–51, 54, 58, 59), five antidepressants (45, 47, 52, 55, 57), two mood stabilizers (48, 60), and two a combination of these medications (40, 56). Ten studies focused on schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (1, 6, 41–43, 49–51, 59), five on depression (45, 47, 52, 55, 57), three on bipolar disorder (48, 58, 60), and three a combination of those diagnoses (40, 54, 56).…”

“…Ten studies focused on schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (1, 6, 41–43, 49–51, 59), five on depression (45, 47, 52, 55, 57), three on bipolar disorder (48, 58, 60), and three a combination of those diagnoses (40, 54, 56). …”

“…Studies used a range of adherence measures including: patient report (50, 55); chart review or physician report (41); a combination of patient and family report and chart review (43, 49); medication discontinuation (by patient report) (45, 47, 57); pill counts of returned pills (46); Medication Event Monitoring System (MEMS) pill bottle caps (56); calculations from pharmacy records (including CMGR, MPR, CPR) (1, 6, 48, 51, 52, 58–60); urine testing for metabolites (54); and not stated (40, 42). Nineteen studies reported the time period used to examine adherence, which ranged from one week to 48 months (mean 10.2months±10.3).…”

“…We did secondary calculations on study data for 11 studies (3 nonadherence percentage calculations (51, 55, 56), two chi-square tests (50, 57), and six both percentage calculations and chi-square tests (1, 40, 47, 49, 58, 60)). For the two studies (55, 56) in which the unadjusted and adjusted nonadherence rates yielded conflicting results, we included both findings, but used the results of the multivariate analysis when describing comparisons in rates between ethnic groups.…”