Key result
Incident rheumatoid arthritis was not associated with increased antidepressant use compared to the general population, with lower prevalence among women (PRR 0.89; 95% CI 0.83-0.95).
Why the study?
What is the prevalence and incidence of antidepressant use among older adults with incident rheumatoid arthritis compared to the general population?
Cohort (n=10,356)
Yes
What is the prevalence and incidence of antidepressant use among older adults with incident rheumatoid arthritis compared to the general population?
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Despite depression being considered a major issue in rheumatoid arthritis, antidepressant use in incident RA patients did not exceed that of the general population.
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate antidepressant use in a nationwide cohort of persons with incident rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in 2000-2007 in Finland. METHOD: Register data from the Social Insurance Institution of Finland were used to evaluate antidepressant use in ≥ 50-year-old incident RA patients (n = 10,356) and the same-age general population. RESULTS: Of the RA patients, 10.0% (n = 1034) had used antidepressants during the year preceding RA diagnosis. The cumulative incidence of antidepressant initiations after RA diagnosis was 11.4% [95% confidence interval (CI) 10.0-12.9] for men and 16.2% (95% CI 14.9-17.5) for women at the end of follow-up (mean 4.4 years). Female gender [age-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) 1.39, 95% CI 1.21-1.60] and increasing number of comorbidities (p for linearity < 0.001) predicted antidepressant initiations. In the last follow-up year, antidepressant use was at the same level among men with RA [prevalence rate ratio (PRR) 0.93, 95% CI 0.82-1.06] but lower among women (PRR 0.89, 95% CI 0.83-0.95) when compared to the general population. CONCLUSIONS: Antidepressant initiations in early RA were associated with female gender and comorbidity. Although depression is stated to be a sizeable problem in RA, the prevalence of antidepressant use did not exceed the population level.
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Jyrkkä et al. (2014) conducted a cohort in Incident rheumatoid arthritis (n=10,356). Incident rheumatoid arthritis vs. Same-age general population was evaluated on Antidepressant use in the last follow-up year (women) (PRR 0.89, 95% CI 0.83-0.95). Incident rheumatoid arthritis was not associated with increased antidepressant use compared to the general population, with lower prevalence among women (PRR 0.89; 95% CI 0.83-0.95).
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