Use of antidepressants in Porto, Braga and Bragança regions
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Depression is one of the most common mental disorders with a prevalence in the general population of 7.4%. With regard to the treatment of this disease the therapies includes the psychotherapy, changes in lifestyle and the pharmacologic therapy.
Objectives: The present study aimed to characterize the use of antidepressants in three regions of Portugal: Porto, Braga and Bragança.
Methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive and correlational study was performed through application of a questionnaire to 385 individuals of the three regions (39% males and 61% females).
Results: The prevalence of use of antidepressants in North Portugal was 15.1% and the female the main consumers (77.6%). Porto was the region with the largest consumption of antidepressants (56.9%) while in bragança occurred the lowest consumption (19%).
The main consumers were individuals aged 38 to 47 years, followed by individuals aged over 47 years. The main reasons identified to use these drugs were depression (42.4%) following by anxiety (34.8%). Furthermore, it was found that the use of antidepressant drugs is also associated with age, sex and civil status, with p values of 0.02, 0.01, 0.02, respectively. The most commonly used antidepressants were the sertraline (18.3%), escitalopram and fluoxetine (15.3% for both). Importantly, the number of adverse reactions is alarming since that more than half of the consumers was affected by these effects (54.7%).
Conclusions: The study highlights that the consumption of depressants occurs mainly in coastal regions, by female and is related to adverse effects.
