Science and Technology Studies Commons^™

Using Electronic Health Records To Characterize Prescription Patterns: Focus On Antidepressants In Nonpsychiatric Outpatient Settings, Joseph J. Deferio, Tomer T. Levin, Judith Cukor, Samprit Banerjee, Rozan Abdulrahman, Amit P. Sheth, Neel Mehta, Jyotishman Pathak

Kno.e.sis Publications

Objective

To characterize nonpsychiatric prescription patterns of antidepressants according to drug labels and evidence assessments (on-label, evidence-based, and off-label) using structured outpatient electronic health record (EHR) data. Methods

A retrospective analysis was conducted using deidentified EHR data from an outpatient practice at a New York City-based academic medical center. Structured “medication–diagnosis” pairs for antidepressants from 35 325 patients between January 2010 and December 2015 were compared to the latest drug product labels and evidence assessments. Results

Of 140 929 antidepressant prescriptions prescribed by primary care providers (PCPs) and nonpsychiatry specialists, 69% were characterized as “on-label/evidence-based uses.” Depression diagnoses were associated …