title: Economic impact of antidepressant treatment duration in naturalistic conditions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the economic impact of the duration of antidepressant drug treatment in a real-life setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  With regard to healthcare costs and global health, antidepressant drug treatments of short duration appear less effective than treatment of recommended duration.
authors.affiliation: Univ. de Bordeaux, U657, Bordeaux, France; INSERM, U657, Bordeaux, France. mtournier@ch-perrens.fr
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tournier
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Crott
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gaudron
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Verdoux
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000191:economics* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000191:economics*; D016527:Drug Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents