Increase in the prescription rate of antidepressants after the Sewol Ferry disaster in Ansan, South Korea
- Authors
- Han, Kyu-Man; Kim, Kyoung-Hoon; Lee, Mikyung; Lee, Sang-Min; Ko, Young-Hoon; Paik, Jong-Woo
- Issue Date
- Sep-2017
- Publisher
- ELSEVIER
- Keywords
- Antidepressant; Anxiolytics; Disaster; Mental health; Prescription; Sewol Ferry disaster
- Citation
- JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS, v.219, pp.31 - 36
- Indexed
- SCIE
SSCI
SCOPUS
- Journal Title
- JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS
- Volume
- 219
- Start Page
- 31
- End Page
- 36
- URI
- https://scholar.korea.ac.kr/handle/2021.sw.korea/82365
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.jad.2017.05.026
- ISSN
- 0165-0327
- Abstract
- Background: Previous pharmaco-epidemiological studies have reported increases in the prescription of psychotropic medications after a disaster, reflecting post-disaster changes in psychiatric conditions and mental health service utilization. We investigated changes in the prescription of psychotropic medications in the Danwon district of Ansan city (Ansan Danwon) compared to a control community before and after the Sewol Ferry disaster on April 16, 2014. Methods: Data was collected from the Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service database. We analyzed the prescription rates of psychotropic medications including antidepressants, anxiolytics, and sedatives/hypnotics, and investigated whether the time-series pattern of monthly prescriptions per 100,000 people was different in Ansan Danwon compared to that in Cheonan city after the Sewol Ferry disaster through difference-in-differences regression analysis. Results: Ansan Danwon showed a significantly greater increase (5.6%) in the prescription rate of antidepressants compared to Cheonan city following the Sewol Ferry disaster. There were no significant differences in changes in the prescription rates of anxiolytics or sedatives/hypnotics. In the secondary analysis, a significantly greater increase in the prescription rate of antipsychotics was observed in Ansan Danwon compared to a control community after the disaster. Limitations: We could not exclude the possibility that other events influenced changes in the prescription rates of psychotropic medications during the study period. Conclusions: Pharmaco-epidemiological studies on psychotropic medication prescription after a disaster provide important information about population-level mental health. Our results suggest that the Sewol Ferry disaster exerted a harmful effect on the mental health status of the affected community.
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Collections - College of Medicine > Department of Medical Science > 1. Journal Articles
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