Background:
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a relevant impact on mental health by influencing a series of well-known predictors: frequency and quality of socialization, income security, and physical activity. As society returns to normality, the potential mid-to-long term impact of such a major event on mental wellbeing must not be underestimated.

Methods:
We performed an interrupted time series analysis to evaluate the change in trends of antidepressant consumption (ATC Classification: N06A) 24 months before and after the March 2020 COVID-19 lockdown in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Using the Regional Outpatient Pharmaceutical Prescriptions database, we extracted the monthly amount in Defined Daily Doses (DDDs) of dispensed antidepressants. An OLS regression was performed with Newey-West standard errors. A Cumby-Huizinga test was used for autocorrelation; the model was subsequently corrected for seasonality. Separate analyses were performed for different age groups and genders.

Results:
Between 2018 and 2022, patients who were dispensed antidepressants in the Emilia-Romagna Region varied from a minimum of 337.141 (69.0% females) in 2020 to a maximum of 348.925 (69.1% females) in 2021, while 77.306.004 and 79.512.128 DDDs were dispensed in the same years, respectively. We found increasing trends in antidepressant consumption both before and after the lockdown. Significant changes in slope of monthly trends from pre- to post-lockdown were found: +11.039,50 DDDs/month (p=0.035) among the general population; in age groups 14-19: +1065,50 DDDs/month (p