• Aivar Päären, Lars von Knorring, Ulf Jonsson, Hannes Bohman, Gunilla Olsson, and Anne-Liis von Knorring.
• Department of Neuroscience, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. aivar@telia.com
• Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2012 Feb 1; 21 (2): 130-6.

PurposeThe prescription drugs have, to our knowledge, not been much studied in epidemiological samples with long-term follow-up. Accordingly, our purpose was to analyze the use of prescription drugs in adults with adolescent depression.MethodsA population-based cohort of adolescents (n = 2465) was screened for the presence of depressive symptoms and diagnosed according to a structured interview. Totally, 362 individuals were identified as depressed and compared with 250 non-depressed controls. The prescription drugs were evaluated at the age of 29-31 years from a register kept by the National Health and Welfare Board.ResultsThe formerly depressed females received significantly more prescription drugs, such as antidepressants, antiepileptics, antibacterials, antimycotics, and antihistamines for systemic use as well as other drugs, compared with controls (15.6 ± 27.4 vs 8.2 ± 7.4 recipes, p < 0.001). Formerly depressed males did not differ from controls regarding prescription drugs.ConclusionsThe females but not males with adolescent depression subsequently received more prescription drugs than non-depressed peers. Depressed female adolescents received more psychotropic and non-psychotropic drugs later in life compared to the non-depressed. This might be as a result of physical illnesses, different treatment-seeking behaviors, or somatizing reactions.Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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