Midwest youth lead nation in antidepressant use

More young people fill prescriptions for antidepressants in the Midwest than any other region of the U.S., according to research by pediatrician and researcher Kao-Ping Chua at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Chua, who directs the University’s Susan B. Meister Child Health Evaluation and Research Center, set out to determine if young people across the country filled more prescriptions for antidepressants after COVID-19 began. To do this, he analyzed a dataset containing most antidepressant prescriptions picked up at pharmacies in the U.S. from 2016 through 2022. 

He said he was surprised to discover that people between 12 and 25 years old filled more antidepressant prescriptions per capita in the Midwest than in any other region, both before and after March, 2020. 

The data also showed the trend intensified over time. For females ages 12-25, Chua said, “the gap between the Midwest and other regions had widened, essentially, by 2022 compared to 2016.” 

More recently, the CDC published survey data that showed a similar trend with adults generally. It found more adults in the Midwest take medication for depression than other regions.

Chua said he would like to know why this is happening.

“The most depressed states actually tend to be in the South and Appalachia,” he said, not in the Midwest, so he didn’t think higher rates of depression could explain the trend. 

Chua also said he doubted that Midwestern providers favor antidepressants more than providers elsewhere. And people in the Northeast, not the Midwest, have the most doctors per capita, so he didn’t think access to prescribers explained the trend, either.

Because many low-income and rural counties in the Midwest lack access to mental healthcare professionals, Chua said he wonders if prescribers in the Midwest may be starting with antidepressants instead of starting with treatments like psychotherapy.

Chua said his research into regional trends in mental health prescribing for young people continues. 

“I was really intrigued by this Midwestern finding.”