Le recours aux médicaments psychotropes dans le Nord - Pas-de-Calais (France)

Over the period of the study, 15.6% of the population of the region covered took at least one psychotropic medication. The rate of use was 11.7% for benzodiazepines, 7.6% for anti-depressants, 1.8% for anti-psychotics, 0.5% for treatment of alcohol dependence and 0.3% for opiate substitution therapy (OST). For the first three of these classes rate of use increased steadily with age. It was invariably much higher in women than in men.Men were treated more frequently for alcoholism and heroin dependency; the proportion taking medication initially increased with age (up to 40-49 years for alcohol dependency and 30-39 years for OST), before falling thereafter.