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ABSTRACT: Introduction
Antidepressant drugs are the most frequently prescribed medication for mental disorders. They are also used off-label and for non-psychiatric indications. Prescriptions of antidepressants have increased in the last decades, but no systematic review exists on the extent of their use in the community.Methods and analysis
We will conduct a systematic review to estimate the prevalence of antidepressant use in the community. We will search for studies published from 1 January 2010 in the Embase and MEDLINE databases using a combination of controlled vocabulary and keywords adjusted for each database without any language restriction. The main inclusion criterion is the presence of prevalence data of antidepressant utilization. Thus, we will include all studies with a descriptive observational design reporting the prevalence of antidepressant use in the community. Study selection (by title/abstract and full-text screening) and data extraction for included studies will be independently conducted by pairs of reviewers. We will then synthesize the data on the prevalence of antidepressant use in individuals living in the community. If possible, we will perform a meta-analysis to generate prevalence-pooled estimates. If the data allows it, we will conduct subgroup analyses by antidepressant class, age, sex, country and other sociodemographic categories. We will evaluate the risk of bias for each included study through a quality assessment using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal tool: Checklist for Studies Reporting Prevalence Data. DistillerSR software will be used for the management of this review.Ethics and dissemination
Ethical approval is not required for this review as it will not directly involve human or animal subjects. The findings of our systematic review will be disseminated through publications in peer-reviewed journals, the Qualaxia Network (https://qualaxia.org), presentations at international conferences on mental health and pharmacoepidemiology, as well as general public events.Prospero registration number
CRD42021247423.
SUBMITTER: Lunghi C
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9157341 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

Lunghi Carlotta C Dugas Michèle M Leclerc Jacinthe J Poluzzi Elisabetta E Martineau Cathy C Carnovale Valérie V Stéfan Théo T Blouin Patrick P Lépine Johanie J Jalbert Laura L Espinoza Suarez Nataly R NR Svyntozelska Olha O Dery Marie-Pier MP Ekanmian Giraud G Nogueira Daniele Maria DM Akinola Pelumi Samuel PS Turcotte Stéphane S Skidmore Becky B LeBlanc Annie A
BMJ open 20220531 5
<h4>Introduction</h4>Antidepressant drugs are the most frequently prescribed medication for mental disorders. They are also used off-label and for non-psychiatric indications. Prescriptions of antidepressants have increased in the last decades, but no systematic review exists on the extent of their use in the community.<h4>Methods and analysis</h4>We will conduct a systematic review to estimate the prevalence of antidepressant use in the community. We will search for studies published from 1 Jan ...[more]