医師の一分

　米国人の10人に1人以上が抗うつ剤を服用。
　過去数十年でよく使用されるようになった抗うつ薬を12才以上の米国人10人に1人以上が服用していると、政府の研究者が公表した。ＣＤＣの統計から、2005～2008年に米国人がよく使用した薬剤の第3位だったが、18～44才では第1位だった。12才以上の11%が服用しており、1988～1994年と比較して約400%増加した。1987年にイーライリリーのＳＳＲＩと呼ばれる新型抗うつ薬プロザック（フルオキセチン）が承認されたことから始まっている。
　女性は抗うつ剤を男性より2.5倍服用しており、白人が黒人より多い。60%以上が一度処方されると2年以上服用し、約14%は10年以上続ける。精神疾患の専門家よりもかかりつけ医から処方されることが多く、過去1年で専門家を受診した割合は1種類の服薬者では1/3以下、2種類以上でも1/2以下であった。
　当初は抗うつ剤として使用されたが、現在では不安障害・強迫性障害・過食症・ＰＴＳＤの治療にも使われる。

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英国は「真のプロザック国家」
https://kurieatwebry.seesaa.net/article/200802article_16.html

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More than one in 10 Americans use antidepressants
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/19/us-usa-antidepressants-idUSTRE79I7FI20111019

Wed Oct 19, 2011 4:55pm EDT
(Reuters) - More than one in 10 Americans over the age of 12 takes an antidepressant, a class of drugs that has become wildly popular in the past several decades, U.S. government researchers said Wednesday.

Antidepressants were the third-most common drug used by Americans of all ages between 2005 and 2008 and they were the most common drug among people aged 18 to 44, according to an analysis by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics.

The team analyzed data on more than 12,000 Americans who took part in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys between 2005 and 2008.

They found that antidepressant use in the United States jumped nearly 400 percent in the 2005-2008 survey period compared with the 1988-1994 period, with 11 percent of those over age 12 taking the drugs.

The increase followed the U.S. approval in 1987 of Eli Lilly and Co's Prozac or fluoxetine, the first of a newer class of antidepressants known as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors or SSRIs.

According to the survey, U.S. women are 2-1/2 times more likely than men to take antidepressants, and whites are more likely than blacks to take the drugs, researchers.

Once prescribed, many people continue taking antidepressants, with more than 60 percent of Americans who use the drugs report being on them for 2 years or more.

And about 14 percent of Americans taking antidepressant medication have done so for 10 years or longer.

Patients who take the drugs often get them from their regular doctor rather than a so-called mental health professional.

According to the survey, fewer than a third of Americans taking one antidepressant drug and fewer than half of those taking more than one have seen mental health professional in the past year.

Although first introduced for depression, several antidepressants are now used to treat a host of problems, including anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, bulimia and even post traumatic stress disorder.

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)