Independent study funded by autonomous resources of INSERM U657.
1600-0447/asset/acps_left.gif?v=1&s=0e4c72fe7df0553c2a9b39feea9b2e2574c289c2)
1600-0447/asset/acps_centre.gif?v=1&s=4ab34d92d51234b4ebd675388bcc1b75dbfb407a)
Original Article
Economic impact of antidepressant treatment duration in naturalistic conditions
Article first published online: 26 NOV 2012
DOI: 10.1111/acps.12035
© 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Additional Information
How to Cite
, , , . Economic impact of antidepressant treatment duration in naturalistic conditions.
Publication History
- Issue published online: 15 APR 2013
- Article first published online: 26 NOV 2012
- Manuscript Accepted: 2 OCT 2012
- Abstract
- Article
- References
- Cited By
Keywords:
- antidepressant;
- effectiveness;
- health insurance database;
- practice guidelines;
- treatment duration
Objective
To assess the economic impact of the duration of antidepressant drug treatment in a real-life setting.
Method
A historical fixed cohort study included 27 917 patients aged 18 and over with a new antidepressant treatment registered in the national insurance database. The economic impact concerned healthcare expenditure in the first 3 months after treatment discontinuation. Generalized linear models were used to compare two groups of treatment duration: <6 months and 6 months and over.
Results
After adjustment for care costs before and during treatment episode, gender, age, chronic diseases, welfare and prescriber specialty, total healthcare costs (in log) [−0.06 (−0.14;0.01) P = 0.11] and psychiatric care costs (in square root) [−0.08 (−0.41;0.25) P = 0.6] were similar in both groups. Non-psychiatric care costs were significantly lower in the ‘long treatment duration’ group compared with the ‘short treatment duration’ group [−11.4 (−15.8; −7.0) P < 0.0001]. The decreases in total and non-psychiatric care costs over the antidepressant treatment episode were larger in the ‘long treatment duration’ group compared with the ‘short treatment duration’ group.
Conclusion
With regard to healthcare costs and global health, antidepressant drug treatments of short duration appear less effective than treatment of recommended duration.