Cited by 403Mental Health Treatment and AccessHealth Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of LifeTreatment of Major Depression

The economic burden of depression and the cost-effectiveness of treatment

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Wang, Philip S., Simon, Gregory, Kessler, Ronald C.·2003·International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research

Abstract

Cost‐of‐illness research has shown that depression is associated with an enormous economic burden, in the order of tens of billions of dollars each year in the US alone. The largest component of this economic burden derives from lost work productivity due to depression. A large body of literature indicates that the causes of the economic burden of depression, including impaired work performance, would respond both to improvement in depressive symptomatology and to standard treatments for depression. Despite this, the economic burden of depression persists, partly because of the widespread underuse and poor quality use of otherwise efficacious and tolerable depression treatments. Recent effectiveness studies conducted in primary care have shown that a variety of models, which enhance care of depression through aggressive outreach and improved quality of treatments, are highly effective in clinical terms and in some cases on work performance outcomes as well. Economic analyses accompanying these effectiveness studies have also shown that these quality improvement interventions are cost efficient. Unfortunately, widespread uptake of these enhanced treatment programmes for depression has not occurred in primary care due to barriers at the level of primary care physicians, healthcare systems, and purchasers of healthcare. Further research is needed to overcome these barriers to providing high‐quality care for depression and to ultimately reduce the enormous adverse economic impact of depression disorders. Copyright © 2003 Whurr Publishers Ltd.

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  • Among people occupying social and productive roles, major depressive disorder predicts substantial declines in role functioning, including poorer marital quality, lower work performance, and lower earnings.

    “Among people with specific social and productive roles, MDD is found to predict significant decrements in role functioning (e.g., low marital quality, low work performance, low earnings).”

    From The Costs of Depression (2012) · cites this paper as [66]

  • Major depressive episode and major depressive disorder significantly predict overall lost work performance, with annual salary-equivalent human capital value estimates between $30.1 billion and $51.5 billion.

    “All these studies found that MDE and MDD significantly predict overall lost work performance. Several studies attempted to estimate the annual salary-equivalent human capital value of these losses. These estimates were in the range $30.1 billion66 to $51.5 billion.64”

    From The Costs of Depression (2012) · cites this paper as [66]

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Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. Depression in Primary Care, Vol. 2. Treatment of Major Depression. Rockville MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, 1993.
  2. Sartorius N, Ustun TB. Mental Illness in Primary Care: An International Study. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1995.
  3. Simon GE, Katon W, Rutter C, et al. Impact of improved depression treatment in primary care on daily functioning and disability. Psychol Med 1998b; 28: 693-701.
  4. Wells KB, Sturm R, Sherbourne CD, et al. Caring for Depression. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1996.

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Authors
Wang, P. S., Simon, G., & Kessler, R. C.
Affiliations
  • Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
  • Group Health Cooperative (US)
  • Harvard University (US)
Corresponding author
Wang, Philip S.
Venue
International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2003-02
Volume
12
Issue
1
Pages
22-33
ISSN
  • 1049-8931 (ISSN-L)
  • 1557-0657
OpenAlex
W2017585287
Cited by
403
References
87
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 25 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 26 · 2012: 20
FWCI
1.16
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
  • National Institutes of Health (2k05mh000507-13, 5k01mh001651-04)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (K05 MH 00507, K01 MH01651)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
  • Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
Keywords
depression, economic burden, cost-effectiveness, employee performance, quality improvement intervention, primary care
MeSH terms
Cost-Benefit Analysis, Depressive Disorder, Humans, Treatment Outcome

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