Treatment costs for depression with pain and cardiovascular comorbidities

Abstract

Objective: As depressive disorders are highly heterogeneous, and as patients exhibit wide differences in clinical characteristics and comorbidities, we aim to examine whether and how demographic and clinical correlates affect healthcare costs for patients with depression in a real-world setting.

Method: A national cohort of adult patients (n = 216,557) who received treatment for depression was identified from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. Factors associated with service use and healthcare costs over a 12-month period were explored, with a particular focus on past treatment history, comorbid physical illnesses, painful physical symptoms, and choice of initial antidepressants.

Results: Depression severity, past treatment history, comorbid mental/physical illnesses, painful physical symptoms, and choice of initial antidepressants were found to be associated with healthcare costs in the following year, although the nature of the associations differed across cost categories. The presence of comorbid cardiovascular disease or certain painful physical symptoms at baseline was associated not only with higher non-psychiatric but also with higher psychiatric costs; moreover, patients with these comorbidities were shown to have increased use of psychiatric emergency and inpatient services.

Conclusion: Healthcare costs for depression are affected by a number of clinical characteristics and comorbidities of patients. The importance of comorbid pain and cardiovascular conditions warrants further research.