Table 1

Characteristics of patients starting antidepressant treatment

Characteristicn%
Sex
 Female17 45667
 Male866633
Age, years
 <35845332
 36–6513 72553
 >65394415
Deprivation quintilea
 1 Low339513
 2427316
 3639925
 4650225
 5 High555321
Comorbidityb
 No19 54675
 Yes657625
Diagnosis codingc
 None17 12265
 Symptom356714
 Diagnosis543321
Previous treatmentd
 No16 00561
 Yes10 11739
 Total26 122

  • ↵a Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation.

  • ↵b Coronary heart disease, diabetes, or cancer coded in patient record.

  • ↵c Presence of a clinical code relating to depression in the current year; details of codes are given in Appendix 1.

  • ↵d History of treatment with eligible antidepressant.