OBJECTIVES: Healthcare databases represent an optimal tool for conducting large retrospective epidemiological studies and are largely used in Europe and the US. This study is the second phase of an earlier study which qualititatively describes databases in Asia Pacific. In this phase, we focused on several countries that have large healthcare databases used for administrative functions namely South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Japan, and Singapore. We assessed the use of databases in studies relevant to health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) on the use of antidepressants. METHODS: A literature search was conducted to include English language articles in PubMed to identify  database analysis studies  from 2000-2013. We identified the number of studies from these countries using the databases as well as their  topics of focus. These included studies on  prescription patterns, resource use and cost of disease.  RESULTS: From the countries included in the study, Taiwan had the highest number of studies published on HEOR and the use of antidepressants. There were very few or no studies from Japan, South Korea, Australia and Singapore. The topics ranged from the use of antidepressants, prevalence, use among adolescents, and factors associated with persistence or early attrition to treatment. Some studies documented the clinical or economic impact of continuous treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Viewed in the context of the earlier study on availability of accessibility of databases, it appears that Taiwan has a high degree of usage based on the number of publications found in our second phase. This may be due to some advantages in terms of database accessibility, transparency of processes and representativeness of the population. As such, for the purpose of research and improving understanding of disease, the authors feel that the Taiwan database is a good example especially for countries still developing their database capabilities.