Antidepressant use in Turkey by provinces: panel data analysis

Abstract

Objectives The objective of this analysis is to show differences in antidepressant use by year and by provinces of Turkey and to understand possible factors that cause these differences. Methods The drug data were obtained from the IMS Health Turkey Medical Index, and the per capita usage was calculated by proportioning with the population. Provinces with combined data were excluded from the study. Sixty provinces with complete data obtained from the IMS Health and Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) were included in the analysis. Physician visits per capita annual data were extracted from the Ministry of Health statistics. Population and per capita gross domestic product data of provinces were obtained from TUIK. A panel data regression model was established in the study. Key findings The model explained 99.25% of the variation in antidepressant consumption unit per person, which is a dependent variable. In our study, it was observed that there was no statistically significant effect of age and income in antidepressant usage. However, per capita physician consultation and the total population have a significant effect on per capita antidepressant use. Therefore, when the other variables are kept constant and the total population increases by 1%, the coefficient of antidepressant use per capita increases by 0.62%. Conclusions According to our analysis, in the majority of the provinces, antidepressant use exceeded the expected level. If the population density of Turkey increases, the ratio of antidepressant usage in the total consumption of drugs may grow. It is necessary to investigate whether there is overuse and to determine underlying causes and preventive measures.