Korean J Clin Pharm.  2023 Mar;33(1):62-69. 10.24304/kjcp.2023.33.1.62.

Adherence to Antidepressants in Korean Elderly Patients with Major Depressive Disorder

• Lee KJ
• Lee YJ

• KMID: 2544343
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.24304/kjcp.2023.33.1.62

Abstract

Objective
Adherence is an important component in the treatment of various diseases, and poor adherence to antidepressants in patients with major depressive disorder is common. Non-adherence can be more prevalent in elderly patients with multiple morbidity and polypharmacy, resulting in negative treatment outcomes. The purpose of this study was to analyze adherence to antidepressants in Korean elderly patients with major depressive disorder. Method: A retrospective study was conducted using the Korean National Health Insurance claims database, and the subjects of this study were patients aged 65 or older who received at least one prescription of antidepressant monotherapy for the treatment of major depressive disorder between January 1, 2020 and June 30, 2020. Adherence was measured using the proportion of days covered at 6 months after the initial antidepressant prescription date. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with adherence.
Results
A total of 416,766 patients were finally included in the study. Over half of patients were non-adherent (52.67%) to antidepressants. According to the multivariate logistic regression analysis, national health insurance or medical aid, taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, and having comorbidities were significantly associated with greater rates of adherence in the study subjects. The highest adherence rate was observed in patients taking vortioxetine.
Conclusion
There was a considerable rate of non-adherence in Korean elderly patients with major depressive disorder. Health care professionals should try to improve adherence in elderly patients with major depressive disorder.

Keyword

Adherence; antidepressant; elderly; major depressive disorder