Quantifying the Economic Impact of Depression for Spine Patients in the United States

Abstract

Study design: This was a retrospective cross-sectional analysis.

Objective: The objective of this study was to estimate the incremental health care costs of depression in patients with spine pathology and offer insight into the drivers behind the increased cost burden.

Summary of background data: Low back pain is estimated to cost over $100 billion per year in the United States. Depression has been shown to negatively impact clinical outcomes in patients with low back pain and those undergoing spine surgery.

Materials and methods: Data was collected from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey from 2007 to 2015. Spine patients were identified and stratified based on concurrent depression International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes. Health care utilization and expenditures were analyzed between patients with and without depression using a multivariate 2-part logistic regression with adjustments for sociodemographic characteristics and Charlson Comorbidity Index.

Results: A total of 37,094 patients over 18 years old with a spine condition were included (mean expenditure: $7829±241.67). Of these patients, 7986 had depression (mean expenditure: $11,455.41±651.25) and 29,108 did not have depression (mean expenditure: $6837.89±244.51). The cost of care for spine patients with depression was 1.42 times higher (95% confidence interval, 1.34-1.52; P<0.001) than patients without depression. The incremental expenditure of spine patients with depression was $3388.22 (95% confidence interval, 2906.60-3918.96; P<0.001). Comorbid depression was associated with greater inpatient, outpatient, emergency room, home health, and prescription medication utilization and expenditures compared with the nondepressed cohort.

Conclusions: Spine patients with depression had significantly increased incremental economic cost of nearly $3500 more annually than those without depression. When extrapolated nationally, this translates to an additional $27.5 billion annually in incremental expenditures that can be attributed directly to depression among spine patients, which equates to roughly 10% of the total estimated spending on depression nationally. Strategies focused on optimizing the treatment of depression have the potential for dramatically reducing health care costs in spine surgery patients.