Having access to this data means I can ask why so much co-proxamol (a medication that has no evidence of effectiveness, but which is also very dangerous) is being prescribed in Gloucestershire.
I was taking a look around some of the data for antidepressants and was wondering why there are sometimes such drastic decreases in spending. Spending for Escitalopram dropped over 80% in a single month[1]. There are a few others that had sharp drops in spending. Just curious, do you know why?
In any case, it would be really interesting to see how legislation, lobbying, and current events (relative) may have affected this data.
(First choice is a good quality talking therapy, but meds may be useful)
> The full guideline on depression concluded that antidepressants have largely equal efficacy and that choice should mainly depend on side‑effect profile, people's preference and previous experience of treatments, propensity to cause discontinuation symptoms, safety in overdose, interactions and cost. However, a generic SSRI is recommended as first‑choice because of its favourable risk–benefit ratio. Neither escitalopram nor any of the available 'dual action' antidepressants, such as venlafaxine and duloxetine, were judged to have any clinically important advantages over other antidepressants. Results from meta‑analyses (Comparative benefits and harms of second-generation antidepressants for treating major depressive disorder, Gartlehner et al. 2011 and 2 Cochrane reviews: Cipriani et al. 2012, CD006534 and Cipriani et al. 2012, CD006533) have provided no evidence to depart from NICE guidance when selecting antidepressants for people with depression.
> Citalopram and escitalopram have been found to prolong the QT interval and are now contraindicated in people who are already taking medication known to prolong the QT interval as there may be an additive effect [Lundbeck Ltd, 2011a; Lundbeck Ltd, 2011b; MHRA, 2011]. Caution is advised in people with congenital long QT interval or who have pre-existing QT interval prolongation as they have a higher risk than average of developing a ventricular arrhythmia including Torsade de Pointes.
Completely agree, I was blown away at the level of transparency this brings to the world of pharma prescriptions. Inefficient care, overprescribing, otherwise suspect prescriptions, all of this laid out very clearly.
I do some work around suicide prevention.
Having access to this data means I can ask why so much co-proxamol (a medication that has no evidence of effectiveness, but which is also very dangerous) is being prescribed in Gloucestershire.