Citation

Frenk SM, Sautter JM, Paulose-Ram R. Pharmacoepidemiol. Drug Saf. 2015; 24(11): 1215-1219.

Affiliation

National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, MD, USA and University of the Sciences, PA, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/pds.3809

PMID

26085005

Abstract

PURPOSE: Prior studies of psychotropic medication use among US veterans are limited in their ability to generalize estimates to the full veteran population and make comparisons with non-veterans. This study estimated the prevalence of psychotropic medication use and trends over time among male US veterans, compared their use of psychotropic medications with non-veteran males, and examined differences among veteran subpopulations.

METHODS: The data for our analysis came from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2010), a cross-sectional, nationally representative study of the civilian, non-institutionalized US population.

RESULTS: The percentage of male veterans who used any psychotropic medication increased from 10.4% in 1999-2002 to 14.3% in 2003-2006, then remained stable in 2007-2010 (14.0%). During the same time period, the percentage of non-veteran males who used psychotropic medications remained relatively stable (7.0%, 8.3%, and 9.2%, respectively). Veterans were more likely to use psychotropic medication, specifically antidepressants, than non-veterans. The percentage of non-Hispanic white veterans and veterans aged 60 years and over who used psychotropic medications increased between 1999-2002 and 2003-2006, but the percentages remained stable between 2003-2006 and 2007-2010. In 2003-2006 and 2007-2010, a higher percentage of non-Hispanic white veterans used psychotropic medications than non-Hispanic black veterans.

CONCLUSIONS: This study found that the use of psychotropic medications and antidepressants was higher among male veterans than male non-veterans, and that prevalence of use increased between 1999-2002 and 2007-2010 for male veterans but remained relatively stable for non-veterans. There were significant variations in the use of psychotropic medications among veteran subpopulations. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Language: en