Clinical Guideline (CANMAT 2016) Discordance of Medications for Patients with Major Depressive Disorder in China

OBJECTIVE: This survey aims to explore the current medical treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) in China and match its degree with Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT). METHODS: A total of 3275 patients were recruited from 16 mental health centers and 16 general hospitals in China. Descriptive statistics presented the total number and percentage of drugs, as well as all kinds of treatments. RESULTS: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) accounted for the largest proportion (57.2%), followed by serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) (22.8%) and mirtazapine (7.0%) in the first therapy, while that of SNRIs (53.9%) followed by SSRIs (39.2%) and mirtazapine (9.8%) in the follow-up therapy. An average of 1.85 medications was administered to each MDD patient. CONCLUSION: SSRIs were the first choice in the first therapy, while the proportion of those drugs decreased during the follow-up therapy and were replaced by SNRIs. Plenty of combined pharmacotherapies were directly selected as the first trial of patients, which was inconsistent with guideline recommendations.