ArticleBMJ open2024
Relationship between pharmacotherapy for major depressive disorder and healthcare utilisation in British Columbia, Canada: a retrospective population-based cohort.
Article in BMJ open, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Factors Associated with the Acceptance of Weight Loss Drugs Among Overweight and Obese Adults in Mainland China: A Cross-Sectional Study.Patient preference and adherence · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo describe the population that meets the criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD) in British Columbia (BC), compare patterns of healthcare utilisation between those with MDD who are and are not prescribed pharmacotherapy, and assess these relationships in models that control for potential confounding variables.
designWe used a population cross-sectional study design among a cohort of individuals living with MDD and examined the relationship between pharmacotherapy and healthcare utilisation between 2019 and 2020 using linked billing and administrative data.
settingThis study identified individuals with MDD using a validated case definition of International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes in BC, Canada.
participantsThe final study cohort included 549 029 adult participants who met the MDD case definition. EXPLANATORY VARIABLE: Explanatory variable was the use of prescription antidepressant medication during the study period, based on BC PharmaNet data. COVARIATES: Covariates include sociodemographic characteristics (age, sex, urban/rural residence, neighbourhood income quintile and comorbidities). PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE: Primary outcome measure was healthcare utilisation (outpatient physician visits, emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalisations).
resultsWe stratified our analysis based on whether study participants were classified as 'recently incident' or 'actively prevalent'. The odds ratio (OR) for health service utilisation between the pharmacotherapy group and the non-pharmacotherapy group for individuals who were recently incident was 8.14 (95% CI 7.40, 8.95) for outpatient physician visits, 1.04 (95% CI 1.02, 1.07) for ED visits and 1.05 (95% CI 1.00, 1.10) for hospitalisations, after adjusting for comorbidities and other sociodemographic variables in our regression analyses, whereas for the actively prevalent group the ORs were 7.57 (7.27, 8.49), 0.91 (0.89, 0.92) and 1.00 (0.98, 1.02), respectively.
conclusionThis study examined the association of pharmacotherapy on healthcare utilisation for adults with MDD in BC. The study revealed higher outpatient physician visits for the pharmacotherapy group and no major association for inpatient visits. For ED visits, recently incident individuals on pharmacotherapy had slightly higher odds of having an ED visit, whereas individuals who were actively prevalent and on pharmacotherapy had a slight decrease in odds. This may suggest a protective effect of pharmacotherapy against a utilisation of resource-intensive healthcare services.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.