The Impact of Antidepressant Prescribing on Suicide Mortality in Australia 1991-2000
Overview
Antidepressant prescribing rose steeply during the 1990s in many developed countries, including Australia, and in a number of these countries the increased antidepressant prescribing has coincided with declining rates of suicide death. Given the public funding for antidepressant prescribing in Australia it is an important policy question to assess the plausibility of the hypothesis that antidepressant prescribing has reduced suicide deaths in Australia. We have accordingly analysed relationships between suicide mortality and antidepressant prescribing in Australia between 1991 and 2000. We used information on per capita alcohol consumption, unemployment rates and method of suicide to assess the plausibility of alternative explanations of any relationships observed.
OPPE Staff
Wayne Hall
Collaborators
Andrea Mant (Chief
Investigator), Peter McManus and Valerie Rendell, South East Sydney Area
Health Service
Ian Hickie, beyondblue:
the national depression initiative
Phillip Mitchell, School
of Psychiatry, UNSW
Status
Completed
Outcomes
A paper has been published in a peer-reviewed journal:Hall, W.D., Mant, A., Mitchell, P.B., Rendle, V.A., Hickie, I.B. & McManus, P. (2003) Association between antidepressant prescribing and suicide in Australia, 1991-2000: trend analysis. BMJ, 326: 1008-1012.
Funding
OPPE
beyondblue:
the national depression initiative
South East Sydney Area
Health Service
Contact webmaster: oppe@uq.edu.au
Last updated: 9 July
2003