Hansard

Antidepressants

Volume 491: debated on Wednesday 22 April 2009

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Norman Lamb

To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many prescriptions for each selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor were dispensed in each of the last five years; and how many were dispensed to persons aged over 65 years; (269729)

(2) how many prescriptions for each selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor were dispensed to persons aged (a) under 10, (b) 10 to 15 and (c) 16 to 25 years in each of the last five years.

Phil Hope

The number of items of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) dispensed in England is available by calendar year from the Prescribing Cost Analysis database.

The number of items dispensed for each formulation is given in the following table.

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) prescription items dispensed in the community in England, 2003 to 2007

Thousand

Drug name

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Citalopram Hydrobromide

4,210.1

4,615.7

5,077.9

6,265.5

7,830.7

Escitalopram

627.6

1,033.5

1,358.8

1,466.3

1,373.9

Fluoxetine Hydrochloride

4,288.0

4,409.8

4,394.5

4,690.1

5,045.7

Fluvoxamine Maleate

31.6

30.4

29.6

29.8

29.9

Paroxetine Hydrochloride

2,869.3

2,388.3

2,040.2

1,864.9

1,765.9

Sertraline Hydrochloride

1,790.3

1,834.3

1,845.1

1,910.7

2,032.8

Total1

13,816.9

14,312.0

14,746.1

16,227.1

18,078.9

1 Totals may not match individually aggregated figures due to rounding.

Notes:

1. SSRI drugs listed are those classified within the British National Formulary paragraph 4.3.3.

2. Information is not available on the age of a person receiving a particular drug or group of drugs.

Source:

Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) system