Globally, antidepressant usage has been on the rise. As of 2022, among select Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, Iceland, Portugal, and the UK were the biggest consumers of antidepressants. At that time, people in Iceland consumed antidepressants at a rate of about 157 defined daily doses (DDD) per 1,000 people.

Mental health globally

Mental health disorders affect a significant proportion of the population, though addressing and understanding the prevalence of mental health is difficult due to regional differences in diagnostic criteria and understandings of mental health. Despite barriers to gathering data on mental health, there have been some global quantitative studies to help better understand certain conditions. It is suggested that mental health is among the top three health concerns among adults worldwide. Recent estimates suggest that about 13 percent of the overall population suffers from some mental health or substance use disorder.

Depression and anxiety globally

A global survey on depression and anxiety showed that the largest numbers of people with anxiety resided in locations in South-East Asia and the Americas. However, the highest distribution of cases of depression globally is among populations in South-East Asia and the Western Pacific. Both depression and anxiety disproportionately affect women in all regions of the world.

Based on pharmacy claims in 2019, more than twice the amount of females than males were taking antidepressants. This statistic shows the percentage of individuals (excluding those on government-sponsored benefits) who filled a prescription for antidepressants in the U.S. in 2019, by age group and gender.

As of 2023, around 24 percent of women in the United States reported currently having or being treated for depression, compared to 11 percent of men. This statistic shows the percentage of adults in the United States who currently had or were being treated for depression in 2017 and 2023, by gender.

Based on pharmacy claims of those who filled at least one prescription for mental health medication in 2019, antidepressant use is most prevalent in West Virginia, Kentucky, Vermont, and New Hampshire. This statistic shows the percentage of patients (excluding those on government-sponsored benefits) who filled a prescription for antidepressants in the U.S. in 2019, by state.

Based on pharmacy claims of those who filled at least one prescription for mental health medication in 2019, nearly twice as many teenage girls take antidepressants compared to teenage boys. This statistic shows the percentage of teenagers (excluding those on government-sponsored benefits) who filled a prescription for antidepressants in the U.S. from 2015 to 2019, by gender.

Background: The treatment of depression is a main strategy for suicide prevention in older adults. We aimed to calculate suicide rates by antidepressant prescription patterns in persons aged ≥ 75 years. A further aim was to estimate the contribution of antidepressants to the change in suicide rates over time.Methods: Swedish residents aged ≥ 75 years (N = 1,401,349) were followed between 2007 and 2014 in a national register-based retrospective cohort study. Biannual suicide rates were calculated for those with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) single use, mirtazapine single use, single use of other antidepressants and use of ≥ 2 antidepressants. The contribution of antidepressants to the change in biannual suicide rates was analyzed by decomposition analysis.Results: There were 1,277 suicides. About one third of these were on an antidepressant during their last 3 months of life. In the total cohort, the average biannual suicide rate in non-users of antidepressants was 13 per 100,000 person-years. The corresponding figure in users of antidepressants was 34 per 100,000 person-years. These rates were 25, 42 and 65 per 100,000 person-years in users of SSRI, mirtazapine and ≥ 2 antidepressants, respectively. In the total cohort, antidepressant users contributed by 26% to the estimated increase of 7 per 100,000 in biannual suicide rates. In men, biannual suicide rates increased by 11 suicides per 100,000 over the study period; antidepressant users contributed by 25% of the change. In women, those on antidepressant therapy accounted for 29% of the estimated increase of 4.4 per 100,000.Conclusion: Only one third of the oldest Swedish population who died by suicide filled an antidepressant prescription in their last 3 months of life. Higher suicide rates were observed in mirtazapine users compared to those on SSRIs. Users of antidepressants accounted for only one quarter of the increase in the suicide rate. The identification and treatment of suicidal older adults remains an area for prevention efforts.

Below is the dataset of the experiment referring to figure 5 (5-B-5C) in the GraphPad Prism file. Dose-response curve of S-Ketamine in females Flinders Sensitive Line (FSL) rats administered 1 hour before the exposition to FST (5B) and OFT (5C).