Antidepressants: Top Advertised & 3rd Most Commonly Used Rx Drug

Antidepressants: Top Advertised & 3rd Most Commonly Used Rx Drug

According to a recent CDC Data Brief (find it here), antidepressants were the third most common prescription drug taken by Americans of all ages in 2005–2008 and the most frequently used by persons aged 18–44 years. From 1988–1994 through 2005–2008, the rate of antidepressant use in the United States among all ages increased nearly 400%.

Key findings (2005–2008):

• Eleven percent of Americans aged 12 years and over take antidepressant medication.
• Females are more likely to take antidepressants than are males, and non-Hispanic white persons are more likely to take antidepressants than are nonHispanic black and MexicanAmerican persons.
• About one-third of persons with severe depressive symptoms take antidepressant medication.
• More than 60% of Americans taking antidepressant medication have taken it for 2 years or longer, with 14% having taken the medication for 10 years or more.
• Less than one-third of Americans taking one antidepressant medication and less than one-half of those taking multiple antidepressants have seen a mental health professional in the past year

Here's a chart that breaks it down by age group and males vs. females:

Click the image for an enlarged view

Perhaps not so coincidentally, antidepressants are among the TOP advertised Rx category in 2010, according to the recent AdAge analysis I summarized in a previous post (see "Double Dip in DTC Spending Plus 33% Drop in Internet Display Ad Spending!" and pie chart below). 

Of the TOP 25 advertised drugs in 2010, DTC ad spends for antidepressants was 20% of the total (24% if you include Lyrica, which is not indicated for depression but is often prescribed for depression off-label).


The CDC data covers the time period 2005-2008, which is somewhat prior to when the full effects of the recession were felt by the recently unemployed. 


Women are twice as likely to take anti-depressants than men (Overall, 40% of females and 20% of males with severe depressive symptoms take antidepressant medication says CDC). Actually, for all degrees of symptoms, women are 2,5 times more likely to take antidepressants than men (see data in chart above).


Why are proportionately more women taking antidepressants than men? The CDC News brief doesn't say, but news reporters have suggested that more women are caregivers and therefore subject to depression linked to that.


Or could it be the DTC advertising of antidepressants that lead more women to ask their doctors about antidepressants (see, for example, "Women Need More Love, Less Drugs")?


Actually, practically every DTC ad (except ads for Viagra) "speaks" to women -- the ads most often focus on the woman as the sufferer of the indicated condition or the caregiver. 


This is part of an issue that I will discuss with several experts in an upcoming LIVE podcast titled "How to Score With Women (as a Marketer) via Social Media." One question I'd like to ask the experts is this: Do pharma marketers focus on women because they are the majority of the audience or because they buy more products (including drugs) than men (ie, are more prolific consumers than are men)? I tend to favor the latter over the former. What do you think?

Use of Internet to Obtain Health Information Can Make You Depressed

Use of Internet to Obtain Health Information Can Make You Depressed

FDA is considering issuing new guidelines regarding regulation of pharmaceutical use of the Internet for promoting drugs. The drug industry and online service providers like Google and Yahoo! hammered into the FDA's head how important the Internet is for health information seekers. Speaker after speaker made the point: the Internet can no longer be ignored if you are serious about protecting the public health. "The trend towards Americans seeking health information online generally is considered to be positive from the standpoint of improved healthcare," said Yahoo! in comments submitted to the FDA.

A new study, however, offers evidence suggesting that "using the Internet for health purposes [is] associated with increased depression," which doesn't sound like a health and wellbeing improvement! "The increase [in depression] may be due to increased rumination, unnecessary alarm, or over-attention to health problems," said the researchers (see "Effects of Internet Use on Health and Depression: A Longitudinal Study"; Bessière K, Pressman S, Kiesler S, Kraut R; J Med Internet Res 2010 (Mar 12); 12(1):e6).

"It may be that one source of the increase in depression is the misinformation people get from factually incorrect websites," say the researchers. "This may lead to inaccurate self-diagnosis, poor health behaviors (eg, herbal remedies), or potentially unnecessary worry (for both healthy and ill populations)." This is similar to the argument used by the drug industry in support of more lax regulation by the FDA. If consumers and patients had easier access to FDA-approved information, it would counterbalance the bad information, claims the industry.

Use of Social Networks May Decrease Depression
The study also found that "using the Internet to communicate with friends and family was associated with declines in depression." Although not studied in this research, perhaps online social networking with other patients also is associated with declines in depression.

This study was conducted between 2000 and 2002 and the researchers recognize that the Internet and access to it have changed dramatically since then, especially the rise of social networking resources. "The quality of health information and support online may have improved," say the researchers, "and Internet users today may no longer use Internet resources in the same fashion as they did during the time period of our study..."

Perhaps if drug companies could more easily supply hopeful messages about effective treatments via the Internet, online health information seekers may be less depressed. Online health information seekers may even be the opposite of depressed -- ie, joyful -- if drug companies were to support open and authentic social networks where patients can exchange personal information and share stories.

Beware of the Disgruntled Patient!
Drug companies, however, should NOT OWN or CONTROL these kinds of social networks because of DPS -- the "disgruntled patient syndrome," which was most recently brought to light by the sanofi-aventis VOICES Facebook Fiasco (see "Disgruntled Patient Shuts Down sanofi-aventis Facebook Page"). As I have said previously, Pharma Should Leave Unmoderated SM Discussions to 3rd Parties (see here).