Characteristics of patients prescribed a newer antidepressant as defined during 6 months prior to first medication use
| Low–moderate affinity antidepressants* (n=14 927) | High-affinity antidepressants* (n=21 462) | p Value | |
| Demographic variables | |||
| Age (years), mean (SD) | 51.8 (16.4) | 52.6 (16.4) | <0.001 |
| Female gender | 9965 (66.8) | 15 489 (72.2) | <0.001 |
| Race/ethnicity† | <0.001 | ||
| White | 11 423 (76.5) | 16 104 (75.0) | |
| Black | 873 (5.8) | 1196 (5.6) | |
| Hispanic | 1183 (7.9) | 2058 (9.6) | |
| Asian | 202 (1.4) | 270 (1.3) | |
| Other | 1246 (8.3) | 1834 (8.5) | |
| Insurance | <0.001 | ||
| Private | 7032 (47.1) | 9779 (45.6) | |
| Public | 6082 (40.7) | 8784 (40.9) | |
| Other | 1813 (12.1) | 2899 (13.5) | |
| Health system utilisation | |||
| Health facts per patient; median (IQR) | 224 (95–483) | 223 (91–477) | 0.152 |
| Years in health system; median (IQR) | 10 (4–15) | 10 (5–15) | |
| Use of antidepressants | |||
| Refills per patient; median (IQR) | 2 (1–4) | 2 (1–5) | |
| High affinity | |||
| Duloxetine | 1421 (7.0) | ||
| Escitalopram | – | 3254 (16.1) | |
| Fluoxetine | – | 10 648 (52.6) | |
| Paroxetine | – | 6107 (30.2) | |
| Sertraline | – | 10 148 (50.1) | |
| Moderate affinity | |||
| Citalopram | 8962 (56.2) | – | |
| Fluvoxamine | 220 (1.4) | – | |
| Venlafaxine | 3869 (24.2) | – | |
| Low affinity | |||
| Nefazodone | 473 (3.0) | – | |
| Bupropion | 5792 (36.3) | – | |
| Mirtazapine | 1621 (10.2) | – | |
| Exposure person-months | 44 235 | 74 706 | |
| Depression severity (n=136) | n=67 | n=69 | |
| QIDS-SR score; mean (SD) | 10.6 (5.3) | 10.3 (5.3) | 0.728 |
| Concomitant medications | |||
| Aspirin | 4302 (28.8) | 6095 (28.4) | 0.721 |