Antidepressant drug prescribing patterns to outpatients of an italian local health authority during the years 1998 to 2008.

Antidepressant Drugs (AD) use has steadily increased among outpatients of an LHA of the Veneto region during the period 1998 to 2008, owing mostly to a rising use of SSRIs. Clearly, the appropriateness of AD treatment requires improvement because all ADs other than SSRIs are used at subtherapeutic doses. Although this survey is limited to the Treviso area, the prevalence and the incidence of AD use reflect in substance the overall trend in Italy