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Early attrition can impede treatment success of depression; its contributing factors and impacts on subsequent treatment course need further clarification.

All Taiwanese adult patients prescribed with antidepressants for depression (n=216,557) in 2003 were identified through a total population health insurance claims database; their initial contact patterns could be classified into three types of attrition: non-attrition, returning attrition and non-returning attrition. Demographic and clinical characteristics associated with each attrition type were described and relationships between attrition type and subsequent treatment course over an 18-month follow-up period were examined with these demographic/clinical confounders being controlled for.

41.6% of Study subjects had early attrition; among them, 35.3% returned to treatment later. Type of depression, medical/psychiatric …