Lack of alternatives increases anti-depressant prescribing n Better interventions to target domestic violence n Global household data on inequality n Classical musicians face wide-ranging inequalities n Gibraltar’s shift to ‘Britishness’ n Personal assistance demands n
NEWS
Lone child migrants face uncertain adulthood n Understanding bus use trends n Social norms help sway food choices n Communities’ input into post-disaster recovery n New electoral violence resources n Drivers of Mediterranean migration n
NEWS
Lack of alternatives increases anti-depressant prescribing
S
HORTAGE OF non- pharmacological options and alternative treatments may be one reason that anti-depressant
prescription rates in Northern Ireland (NI) are significantly higher than the rest of the UK, suggests researchers following a two-year study of prevalence and variation in anti-depressant prescribing across NI. Anti-depressant prescription rates in the UK are among the highest in Western Europe. In NI the rates are yet higher, says lead researcher Professor Mark Shevlin of Ulster University. Working with the award-winning NI charity Aware Defeat Depression (Aware), the research team linked returns from the 2011 NI Census with NI prescribing records to map the socio- economic and geographic landscape of anti-depressant prescribing. Findings show that anti- depressants were prescribed to 12% of NI’s population in 2011 with this rate rising to 14% by 2015. “Over the entire five-year period 24% of the population were prescribed anti- depressants,” says Professor Shevlin. “Existing figures for 2013 show that proportionately more anti-depressants
were prescribed in NI than 23 other countries worldwide and that, overall, GPs in NI prescribed enough anti- depressants to give every member of the population a 27-day supply; the same statistics for England and Wales were 10 days and 19 days respectively.” While prescription rates in NI are
“
Hence, more resources aimed at encouraging patients to improve their physical health through education on diet and exercise could ameliorate the effects of low mood without pharmacological intervention. Other alternatives to anti-depressants, say researchers, range from psychological
Over the entire five-year period 24% of the population were prescribed anti-depressants
climbing annually, rates of depression are not changing. Moreover, existing evidence reveals the rate of anti- depressant prescribing (15% in 2015) to be higher than household survey estimates of the proportion of the NI population that suffers low mood (9%) and clinical depression (7%). “We suspect that this disparity is occurring because some GPs are prescribing anti- depressants for non-clinical depression because they do not have access to alternatives, as the infrastructure for ‘social prescribing’ in NI is poor,” says Professor Shevlin.
Study findings show a clear
association between self-reported poor physical health and the likelihood of being prescribed anti-depressants.
treatments such as counselling to greater social interaction and taking steps to combat loneliness. Based on these findings, project
”
partner Aware Beat Depression aims to identify geographical areas of high anti- depressant prescribing and particularly vulnerable groups such as young people and those aged 40-54, which it will target with support, education and information on alternatives to anti- depressant use. n
i Contact Professor Mark Shevlin,
Ulster University Email
m.shevlin@
ulster.ac.uk Web
adsopp.wordpress.com Telephone 028 71375619 ESRC Grant Number ES/N012216/1
WINTER 2018 SOCIETY NOW 3
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