Patient factors associated with SSRI dose for depression treatment in general practice: a primary care cross sectional study

Table 4 Mean daily doses and differences in short-term and long-term (same SSRI ≥2 years) mean doses

	ADM <2 years (n = 1909)		ADM ≥2 years (n = 753)		Difference in mean dose (mg) 95% CI	Mann-Whitney U-test ^‡	All ADMs (n = 2662)
	Number of ADMs (%) ^†	Mean dose (SD) mg	Number of ADMs (%) ^†	Mean dose (SD) mg	Difference in mean dose (mg) 95% CI	Mann-Whitney U-test ^‡	Number of ADMs (%)	Mean dose (SD) mg
Citalopram	929 (34.9)	25.8 (12.2)	258 (9.7)	31.2 (14.8)	5.4 (3.6 to 7.2)	<0.001	1187 (44.6)	27.0 (13.0)
Fluoxetine	753 (28.3)	27.2 (12.0)	316 (11.9)	30.6 (14.0)	3.4 (1.6 to 5.2)	<0.001	1069 (40.2)	28.2 (12.7)
Sertraline	147 (5.5)	91.0 (43.7)	76 (2.9)	106.6 (49.2)	15.6 (2.3 to 28.8)	0.019	223 (8.4)	96.3 (46.1)
Paroxetine	35 (1.3)	28.0 (11.8)	67 (2.5)	29.4 (12.7)	1.4 (-3.6 to 6.4)	0.832	102 (3.8)	28.9 (12.3)
Escitalopram	44 (1.7)	15.2 (5.6)	35 (1.3)	15.4 (6.8)	0.2 (-2.6 to 3.0)	0.94	79 (3.0)	15.3 (6.1)
Fluvoxamine	1 (0.0)		1 (0.0)				2 (0.1)
Total	1909 (71.7)^†		753 (28.3)^†				2662 (100%)

Note: Total mean dose and difference in doses between short-term and long-term use presented as means and SD to aid clarity of actual differences groups.
ADMs: antidepressant medicines. SD: standard deviation.
^†: Percentage of total antidepressants prescribed to the 2662 patients.
^‡: Dose distribution for ADM <2 years and ≥2 years compared using Mann-Whitney U-test.

ISSN: 2731-4553