Depressed Patients Don’t Get Enough Follow-Up
Recent controversy in antidepressant therapies centered on an increased risk of suicidal thoughts in new patients who started antidepressant medications. However, a new study published in American Journal of Managed Care suggests that this concern about increased risk of suicidal thoughts in patients taking antidepressants did not translate into physicians following up on patients who started antidepressant therapy.
US government guidelines recommend children and adults who are taking antidepressants meet with doctors at least once a week during the first month of antidepressant therapy, Then, patients can meet twice a month, and thereafter, once every 3 months. However, the published study found that 45% of the patients who started to take antidepressants did not see their doctors during the first crucial month of taking antidepressant medications. When you consider almost 85,000 patients (including children) surveyed in this study, you can imagine the staggering number of patients who should have received monitoring but weren’t followed up by their doctors.
We can have a lot of media attention on the risks of increased suicidal thoughts in some patients taking antidepressants - especially pediatric and adolescent patients - and we can have government issued warnings and drug makers revising their medication labels to reflect the risks. However, if doctors aren’t following up on the actions necessary to monitor for these risks, then all the media attention and advisories in the world won’t make a difference in reducing preventable tragedies.
Study source: Am J Manag Care. 2006;12:453-461. Frequency of Follow-up Care for Adult and Pediatric Patients During Initiation of Antidepressant Therapy.
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