Use of Antidepressants Rose by 30% in Last 30 Years: NHS Data

New figures released by the NHS in Britain reveal that the use of antidepressants has increased by nearly 30 percent in the last three years, costing the government more than £11 billion annually in lost earnings. According to the figures released by the NHS Information Center, the use of antidepressants increased by 28 percent, up from 34 million prescriptions in 2007-08 to 43.4 million in 2010-11. The use of sleeping pills too has gone up by nearly 3 percent while prescriptions for anti-anxiety drugs rose from six million to 6.5 million in the same period.

A study conducted by the House of Commons found that the rise in depression is costing the country more than £11 billion annually with £8.97 billion in lost earnings while treating depression costs more than £520 million for the NHS.

Commenting on the findings, Liberal Democrat MP Jo Swinson, who commissioned the research, said, “Failure to tackle depression hurts us all. It makes a misery of the lives of sufferers, costs the NHS in terms of time and medication and hampers business by forcing some people out of work.”


Source-Medindia