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Prevalence of Psychotropic Medication Use Among Dutch Military Personnel Between 2003 and 2012 and Its Comparison to the Dutch General Population.

BACKGROUND
The armed forces work under high pressure and in stressful environments and it is well known that being in the military is a risk factor for psychiatric problems. However, it remains unknown how prevalent psychotropic medication use is in military personnel.


OBJECTIVE
To assess prevalence of psychotropic medication use in Dutch military personnel and compare to the Dutch general population.


METHODS
Data were obtained from the military pharmacy. From 2003 to 2012, the year-prevalence of psychotropic medication use was calculated from the number of distributed psychotropic medications and the number of Dutch military personnel. For the year 2011, the year-prevalence of psychotropic medication use in the military was compared to that of the Dutch general population.


RESULTS
The year-prevalence of psychotropic medication use increased by 55%, from 1.64% in 2003 to 2.54% in 2012 in Dutch military personnel. An increase is seen in the number of users of psychotropic medication. Also the use of antidepressants and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder medication increased.


CONCLUSION
Over the last decade, there has been a 1.5-fold increase in psychotropic medication dispensed to Dutch military personnel. However, Dutch military personnel were significantly less likely to use psychotropic medications compared to the Dutch general population.