The effect of depression on health care utilization and costs in patients with type 2 diabetes.
The objective of the study was to estimate the effect of depression on health care utilization and costs in patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Patients were identified during a four-year enrollment period (1998-2001) from a Medicaid claims database. The final cohort consisted of 4,294 patients with type 2 diabetes (1,525 patients with depression; 2,769 patients without depression). Multivariate results indicated that significant utilization differences existed between the two groups: Patients who were depressed incurred a higher number of physician office visits, emergency room/inpatient admissions, and more prescriptions compared with patients who had diabetes but were not depressed. Patients with depression had nearly 65% higher overall health care costs than those without depression. Recognizing that depression is as a risk factor for increasing health care expenditures has the potential to improve diabetes management and related outcomes.
Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana 46208-3485, USA. ikalseka@butler.edu
Iftekhar D
ID
Kalsekar
Suresh M
SM
Madhavan
Mayur M
MM
Amonkar
Virginia
V
Scott
Stratford M
SM
Douglas
Eugene
E
Makela
D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003863:Depression; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000639:trends*; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014481:United States