Iceland tops OECD anti-depressants table
Photo: Ásdís Ásgeirsdóttir Ásdís Ásgeirsdóttir
Icelanders consume by far the most anti-depressants of any OECD country, according to a new report on health indicators across the 34-country group.
Comparing data from 2013 for 28 countries, Iceland comes out way ahead of the field in terms of the amount of anti-depressant drugs consumed.
Icelanders consume a defined daily dosage (DDD) – a comparative statistical measure of drug consumption – of 118 per 1,000 people per day. The average for the 28 countries analysed is 58, while even second-placed Australia is over twenty points behind on 96.
“The level of antidepressants consumption depends on the prevalence of depression in each country, and on how depression is diagnosed and treated,” reads the report.
“In […] countries with particularly high antidepressants consumption, there is a need to address the appropriateness of prescribing patterns, and the availability of alternative treatments for depression.”
Source: OECD Health Statistics 2015, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/health-data-en
