Seniors' Antidepressant Use Soars, Depression Rates Unchanged

A study in the British Journal of Psychiatry found the population of people 65 or older who take antidepressants has more than doubled in the past 20 years, while the number of seniors diagnosed with depression has hardly changed, reports Medscape . Researchers interviewed more than 15,000 adults 65 or older in Britain and Wales, between 1991 and 1993 and between 2008 and 2011. Only a slight decline in depression prevalence was observed, from 7.9 percent in the earlier period to 6.8 percent. Nevertheless, the percentage of adults on antidepressants soared from 4.2 percent in the early period to 10.7 percent 20 years later. The researchers expressed uncertainty that the increase in treatment indicated overdiagnosis or the prescribing of antidepressants for ailments other than depression. "Sometimes treatment is given for mild depression which falls outside of our definition of depression — much of the evidence for the effectiveness of antidepressants is for people with moderate or severe depression," acknowledged the University of East Anglia's Antony Arthur.