Global prevalence of antidepressant drug utilization in the community: protocol for a systematic review

INTRODUCTION

Antidepressant drugs are the most frequently prescribed medication for mental disorders. They are also used off-label and for non-psychiatric indications. Prescriptions of antidepressants have increased in the last decades, but no systematic review exists on the extent of their use in the community.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

We will conduct a systematic review to estimate the prevalence of antidepressant use in the community. We will search for studies published from 1 January 2010 in the Embase and MEDLINE databases using a combination of controlled vocabulary and keywords adjusted for each database without any language restriction. The main inclusion criterion is the presence of prevalence data of antidepressant utilization. Thus, we will include all studies with a descriptive observational design reporting the prevalence of antidepressant use in the community. Study selection (by title/abstract and full-text screening) and data extraction for included studies will be independently conducted by pairs of reviewers. We will then synthesize the data on the prevalence of antidepressant use in individuals living in the community. If possible, we will perform a meta-analysis to generate prevalence-pooled estimates. If the data allows it, we will conduct subgroup analyses by antidepressant class, age, sex, country and other sociodemographic categories. We will evaluate the risk of bias for each included study through a quality assessment using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal tool: Checklist for Studies Reporting Prevalence Data. DistillerSR software will be used for the management of this review.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

Ethical approval is not required for this review as it will not directly involve human or animal subjects. The findings of our systematic review will be disseminated through publications in peer-reviewed journals, the Qualaxia Network (https://qualaxia.org), presentations at international conferences on mental health and pharmacoepidemiology, as well as general public events.

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER

CRD42021247423.

[Effects of aflatoxins B1 on glucose-6-phosphatase activity in kidney and liver of rats (Rattus rattus norvegicus)]

The authors observed the influence of the B1 aflatoxin over rat liver and kidneys glucose-6-phosphatase activity. Animals aged 30 and 60 days received B1 aflatoxin in oil, 1 mcg/g and 5 mcg/g of body weight. The parameters were observed 6, 24 and 48 hours after the micotoxin administration. There was significant decrease of glucemia in the 30 days animals. In the 60 days animals the results suggested possible increase in the liver glucose-6-phosphatase and marked decrease in glycogen.

[Methods of studing intestinal absorption in vivo and in vitro]

The authors describe a simple method for the perfusion of everted and in situ intestine. The technique offers the same advantages of other methods and allows the measurement of the uptake of substances from the intestinal lumen and estimates the absorption by the intestinal wall. The technique affords the biochemical studies of the action and effects of drugs on the mechanism of the intestinal absorption.

[Determination of total protein levels in the liver and the heart of normal and ytterbium chloride treated female rabbits]

The authors study the effects of ytterbium chloride on the levels of total liver and heart proteins of rabbits. The results showed that in the rabbits treated by yterbium chloride, the total proteins founded in treated animals was lower than those observed in normal ones.