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Organon Laboratories Ltd, Cambridge
Imperial College Management School, London, UK
Correspondence: Christine Thomas, 487 Newmarket Road, Cambridge CB5 8JJ, UK. E-mail: christine.m.thomas{at}talk21.com
Declaration of interest C.M.T. is Health Economics Manager at Organon Laboratories Ltd. The study was undertaken in partial requirement for an MSc degree at City University, London; this institution received no financial support from Organon Laboratories Ltd.
See editorial, pp. 477-478,
this issue. 
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ABSTRACT |
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 TOP ABSTRACT INTRODUCTIONMETHODRESULTSDISCUSSIONClinical Implications and...REFERENCES |
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Aims To calculate the total cost of depression in adults in England during 2000.
Method Recorded data on health service use by patients with depression were analysed and the cost of treating patients was calculated. The cost of working life lost was estimated from sickness benefit claims and the number of registered deaths of patients with depression.
Results The total cost of adult depression was estimated at over £9 billion, of which £370 million represents direct treatment costs. There were 109.7 million working days lost and 2615 deaths due to depression in 2000.
Conclusions Despite awareness campaigns and the availability of effective treatments, depression remains a considerable burden on both society and the individual, especially in terms of incapacity to work.
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INTRODUCTION |
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TOPABSTRACTINTRODUCTIONMETHODRESULTSDISCUSSIONClinical Implications and...REFERENCES |
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METHOD |
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TOPABSTRACTINTRODUCTIONMETHODRESULTSDISCUSSIONClinical Implications and...REFERENCES |
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Cost of hospital contacts
The number of hospitalisations for depressive disorder and recurrent
depressive disorder was taken from Hospital Episode Statistics
(Department of Health,
2000a). Two ICD–10
(World Health Organization,
1992) diagnosis codes were applicable: F32 (depressive episode)
and F33 (recurrent depressive disorder). The total numbers of day cases,
defined as treatment during the course of the day that does not require an
overnight stay (Department of Health,
2000a), for depressive disorder and recurrent depressive
disorder were reported in Hospital Episode Statistics. The cost of
admissions and day cases was then calculated by multiplying the number of
admissions and day cases by the mean average cost per admission and day case
given in Healthcare Resource Group data (P18, psychiatric disorders), from the
national schedule of reference costs
(Department of Health,
2000c).
Out-patient consultations
Out-patient consultation data were available by sector and specialty from
Consultant Outpatient Attendances by Sector
(Department of Health, 2001), but there was no specific figure for consultations for depression. Therefore
the number of in-patient episodes due to depression as a proportion of all
mental health episodes was calculated (16%) and this percentage was applied to
the total number of mental health out-patient attendances. This is likely to
be an underestimation in view of the finding that only 5% of depression is
treated in the hospital setting
(Jönsson & Bebbington,
1994). (For comparison, an earlier study estimated that affective
disorders contributed 21% of the total cost of mental illness in the USA in
1990 (Rice & Miller,
1995).) Data from Key Health Statistics from General
Practice (Office for National
Statistics, 1998) were also examined to identify a more accurate
estimate of out-patient consultations. However, in this source out-patient
referral rates were only available for psychiatry as a whole rather than
specific to depression; these data therefore were subject to the same
limitations and would not be as recent as the published figures that were
used. The cost of depression-specific out-patient consultations was then
calculated from Reference Costs 2000
(Department of Health,
2000c) on the basis of specialty code 710 (mental
illness).
General practice consultations
Rates of general practitioner consultations by patients with depression
(ICD–9 classifications 298, 300.4 and 311;
World Health Organization,
1978) were obtained from Morbidity Statistics from General
Practice (Office for National
Statistics, 1995). These rates were applied to the 2000 population
data and the cost calculated using unit costs of health and social care
(Netten & Curtis,
2000).
Drug consumption
Prescription cost analysis data
(Department of Health,
2000b) give the number of prescriptions and net
ingredient cost per prescription of antidepressant drugs prescribed,
categorised by antidepressant class. Key Health Statistics from General
Practice (Office for National
Statistics, 1998) gives the proportion of drugs in each
anti-depressant class prescribed for patients with treated depression,
analysed by age and gender. The cost of antidepressant medication was then
calculated using the net ingredient cost per script as given in the
prescription cost analysis data.
Indirect costs
Indirect costs of depression arise when people with this disorder are
unable to function as a result of their illness
(Kind & Sorenson, 1993), manifested by the inability to work (morbidity costs). Furthermore, a
proportion of people with depression die from suicide or accidental poisoning
that is related to the diagnosis of depression (mortality costs).
Morbidity costs
The total number of days of incapacity benefit for the period 1 April 1999
to 31 March 2000 for the diagnosis of depression and recurrent depression
(ICD–10 classifications F32 and F33) were obtained on application from
the former Department of Social Security. These figures were apportioned
according to age and gender using the prevalence data, for male patients aged
up to 64 years only (assuming that those aged 65 or over would not claim
incapacity benefit). For female patients the age limit was 59 years. The
average weekly wages for each age band reported by the New Earnings
Survey (Office for National
Statistics, 2000c) were used to calculate the indirect
costs of depression due to lost earnings.
Mortality data
The number of deaths due to suicide and self-inflicted injury is available
categorised by gender and age band (Office
for National Statistics, 2000b). Seventy per cent of
suicides are estimated to be related to depression
(Hotopf & Lewis, 1997), and
this figure was used to calculate the number of suicides that were
attributable to depression. The number of deaths due to accidental poisoning
by antidepressants in 2000 (Office for
National Statistics, 2000b) was also examined, to give
the number of deaths due to accidental poisoning that are related to
depression. Taking the life expectancy data from Health Statistics
Quarterly 11 (Office for National
Statistics, 2001) classified by age and gender, the number of
life-years lost was calculated for all deaths due to depression. The residual
life expectancy was discounted at 6%. Using data on the proportion of men and
women who are in paid employment derived from the Labour Force Survey
(Office for National Statistics,
2000a), we calculated the number of working life-years
lost through depression. Multiplying the average weekly earnings
(Office for National Statistics,
2000c) to estimate the annual earnings by age group and
gender enabled the cost of the life-years lost due to depression to be
calculated.
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RESULTS |
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TOPABSTRACTINTRODUCTIONMETHODRESULTSDISCUSSIONClinical Implications and...REFERENCES |
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Direct costs
The components of the direct costs of treating depression that are borne by
the National Health Service (NHS) are estimated to be £369 865 000
(Table 2). These comprise
in-patient, day and out-patient care, general practitioner consultations and
medication. The cost of each component and its respective proportion of the
total direct cost is also indicated.
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Morbidity costs
Claims for incapacity benefit for people in England with a diagnosis of
depression (F32 and F33) indicate that 109.7 million working days were lost as
a result of depression. The total of lost earnings is estimated at over
£8 billion. Table 3 lists
the number of working days lost by men and women in various age groups; almost
a fifth of the days were lost by women aged 35–44 years, who have the
highest prevalence of depression.
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Mortality costs
There were 3583 suicides in the year studied, and 2507 of these are
estimated to be related to depression. Suicides in people with depression were
most frequent in men aged 25–34 years. In the same year there were also
1058 deaths due to accidental poisoning with drugs, medicaments and
biologicals, an estimated 108 of which were due to poisoning with
antidepressants. The total number of deaths in England in 2000 estimated to be
associated with depression is 2615 (Table
4). To estimate the loss of future lifetime earnings arising from
premature death related to depression, the number of deaths was multiplied by
discounted life expectancy data, resulting in a loss of an estimated
£562 million.
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Total costs
The total cost of depression in England among adults over 15 years old in
2000 is estimated at over £9 billion.
Table 5 presents the direct and
indirect cost components compared with estimates from previous studies.
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DISCUSSION |
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TOPABSTRACTINTRODUCTIONMETHODRESULTSDISCUSSIONClinical Implications and...REFERENCES |
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All of the direct treatment costs used in the analysis are based on the mean reported costs, which may be an under- or overestimation of the real costs of treating patients with depression. For example, the cost of a general practitioner consultation is based on an average surgery consultation lasting 9.36 min (Netten & Curtis, 2000), which costs £15. Previous cost of depression studies have argued that the time and consequently the cost of a consultation for someone with depression will be approximately double that of the average consultation (Kind & Sorensen, 1993; Jönsson & Bebbington, 1994). Prescription Cost Analysis (Department of Health, 2000b) bases the prescription costs on the net ingredient cost, and does not include any data on dispensing costs or any adjustment when a prescription charge is paid by the patient. As such costs and adjustments affect the overall cost to society, they should be considered in a cost-of-illness analysis. Furthermore, patients with depression may also receive other types of medication, such as anxiolytics, as well as treatment for adverse events such as gastrointestinal upsets. However, as it could be argued that antidepressants such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors may be prescribed for conditions other than depression (such as eating disorders or panic disorders), the overall estimation for cost of medication may be regarded as accurate.
This study calculated the costs of treating depression based on health care resource use data pertaining to adults with a diagnosis of depression in England in 2000. However, we recognise that certain aspects of patient management have been excluded from this analysis. This is largely due to lack of availability of reliable estimates of health resource use for certain components, such as the number of home visits to patients by the general practitioner and other health care workers such as community psychiatric nurses. Similarly, the cost of community psychiatric teams, who may also be involved in the management of patients with depressive illness, were excluded from the analysis owing to the lack of accurate data. There is evidence to suggest that the use of counselling for depression is increasing (Wagner & Simon, 2001), but a reliable estimate of the number of counselling consultations for patients with depression was not identified. This potentially represents an additional cost. The use of psychotherapy such as cognitive–behavioural therapy is also increasing in both the NHS and the private sector; again, reliable estimates of the number and costs of this treatment were not identified. Patient-related costs are not included in this analysis owing to the lack of reliable data. These might include direct costs, such as the cost of prescription or over-the-counter preparations, and indirect costs, such as those incurred for travelling to an out-patient or general practitioner consultation.
Overall, it is likely that direct cost estimates represent an underestimation rather than an overestimation of the actual costs of depression.
Indirect costs
Indirect costs represent the value of lost production to society. Average
earnings rates used to calculate the indirect costs may not be an accurate
reflection of the wages of people with depression, who may be below-average
earners. In this study we use the human capital approach, which is defined as
lost income during the time that the patient is absent from work because of
sickness, and the lost future gross income due to premature death
(Liljas, 1998). Criticisms of
the human capital approach are that it discriminates against those who are not
in employment, such as elderly people. In this analysis no cost is calculated
for morbidity and mortality in men over 65 years old or women over 60 years
old. Furthermore, in reality when people are absent from work, colleagues may
cover their work in the short term and in the long term a replacement worker
may be appointed. However, the inability to work does represent a societal and
personal burden to those who are affected. Our study derived the number of
lost days from incapacity claims that were classified by a diagnostic code for
depression. Therefore, the number of days lost is a fair representation of
this burden, although the cost estimates may not be. Claims for benefits may
be an underestimation of the actual number of working days lost, as employers
make claims for sickness benefit only after an employee has been absent for 5
days.
Deaths due to depression
The lifetime risk of suicide among people with depression has been
estimated at 6% (Inskip et al,
1998). It is widely assumed that early and accurate identification
of depressive disorders will reduce the risk of suicide, and one of the
targets set in the recent National Service Framework for Mental Health
(Department of Health, 1999) is
to reduce the number of suicides. Our study assumes that only 70% of suicides
were due to depression. However, it could be argued that all people who die by
suicide are suffering from depression. Furthermore, mortality data are likely
to be an underestimate, because in a number of reported suicides it is not
determined whether death was accidentally or purposely inflicted; these deaths
are not included in the analysis but may also be due to an underlying
diagnosis of depression. Suicide figures may also suffer from a bias in
recording in order to avoid inflicting further suffering on the surviving
family (Kind & Sorenson,
1993).
Deaths due to accidental poisonings were assumed to be related to depression only if they were caused by an antidepressant; however, people with depression may overdose inadvertently on other substances, such as paracetamol. Conversely, it could be argued that not all accidental poisonings with antidepressants occur in people with depression – for example, a family member might take the wrong medication in error. We also recognise that people suffering from depression have an increased risk of mortality from other related conditions, and therefore the number of deaths associated with depression is likely to be an underestimate. Despite these limitations, the number of deaths related to depression is an important indication of the human loss due to unsuccessful recognition of illness or failure of treatment.
Interpretation of the findings
This study estimates that the total direct cost of depression in England is
almost £370 million. Previously published estimates of the cost of
depression were £222 million in the UK
(Jönsson & Bebbington,
1994) and £416 million in England and Wales
(Kind & Sorenson, 1993).
However, the contribution of hospital admissions in the latter study was
almost 40% and this was generated mainly from admissions to specialised mental
institutions rather than to general hospitals. The changes in patterns of care
and the closure of many such institutions reflect the shift found in our study
for the highest contributor to costs to be antidepressant medication rather
than hospital care. Conversely, in Kind & Sorenson's study the medication
component represented only 11.3% of the total direct costs, which also
reflects the greater usage of the cheaper tricyclic antidepressants.
Morbidity costs are nine-tenths of the overall total cost of depression in our study. This is in keeping with the clinical course of depression, which is a chronic and relapsing condition that can successfully respond to treatment. Unfortunately, as patients comply poorly with medication – some studies suggest up to 50% (Hale, 1997) – this may lead to a greater chance of relapse and recurrence. We estimated the morbidity costs to be £8.1 billion, which is almost three times the cost estimated by Kind & Sorenson (1993). This may be explained by two factors. First, in the earlier study morbidity costs were estimated on the basis of assumed disease severity and absence from work; in our study, these costs were estimated according to reported incapacity benefit claims, which are likely to be more accurate. Second, average wages have increased over the past decade, and our estimates of labour market participation are higher than those used by Kind & Sorenson.
The ratio of indirect to direct costs in our study is 23, whereas previous studies reported a 7-fold difference (Kind & Sorenson, 1993). This difference may be largely due to the differences in methodology, along with greater recognition and awareness of depression by patients and clinicians. Although the number of life-years lost was estimated in the Kind & Sorenson study, mortality costs were not calculated. We estimated these to be £562 million in our study, which also results in an overall increase in indirect costs. The cost estimates calculated in our study are based on the most recent national health care resource data available for England. Furthermore, the calculation of both the direct and indirect costs of depression are revisions of those provided in previous studies and incorporate more accurate estimates of resource use by people with depression. Given the number of limitations that remain when performing any cost-of-illness study, the costs we calculated are likely to be an underestimate rather than an overestimate of the burden of depression.
In summary, the cost of depression in England represents a substantial burden on both society and the individual despite improved recognition and awareness, and the availability of effective and accessible treatments. The total cost of managing depression in adults in England in 2000 is estimated at over £9 billion, including almost £370 million of direct treatment costs. These results provide a more accurate estimate of current costs and reflect the shifts in patterns of care and the availability of more accurate health care resource data. The contribution of the cost of antidepressant medication to the direct treatment costs is substantial and provides evidence of the wider recognition and better management of the disease. However, anti-depressant medication costs are a minor proportion of the overall cost of depression. There is a substantial indirect burden associated with depression: in 2000 there were 109.7 million working days lost as a result of depression, and 2615 deaths. The intangible elements of pain and suffering of people with depressive disorders and their families and the effects on quality of life cannot be quantified in monetary terms.
The accuracy of cost estimates is always subject to the limitations of the available data. However, using a ‘top-down’ approach gives an estimation of the actual costs that were allocated in a given year to treating a disease at the population rather than the patient level. The use of mean costs can provide the decision-maker with the average amount that a patient might incur but does not give an indication of the likelihood of that cost occurring. Although population-based cost estimates are incomplete, knowledge of how costs are allocated is important given the excess demand for scarce health care resources. Finally, the contribution of the different components to the overall cost of depression may provide an indication of where strategies to reduce the consequences of disease have the potential to offset significant costs that could be more efficiently allocated elsewhere in society.
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Clinical Implications and Limitations |
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TOPABSTRACTINTRODUCTIONMETHODRESULTSDISCUSSIONClinical Implications and...REFERENCES |
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LIMITATIONS
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REFERENCES |
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TOPABSTRACTINTRODUCTIONMETHODRESULTSDISCUSSIONClinical Implications and...REFERENCES |
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Department of Health (1999) National Service Framework for Mental Health: Modern Standards and Service Models for Mental Health. London: Department of Health.
Department of Health (2000a) Hospital Episode Statistics. London: Department of Health.
Department of Health (2000b) Prescription Cost Analysis: England 2000. London: Department of Health.
Department of Health (2000c) Reference Costs 2000. London: Department of Health.
Department of Health (2001) Consultant Outpatient Attendances by Sector, Form KH09. London: Department of Health.
Hale, A. S. (1997) (1997) ABC of mental health:
depression. BMJ, 315, 43
-46.
Hotopf, M. & Lewis, G. (1997) Suicide and the cost-effectiveness of antidepressants (letter). British Journal of Psychiatry, 170, 88 .
Inskip, H. M., Harris, E. C. & Barraclough, B.
(1998) Lifetime risk of suicide for affective disorder,
alcoholism and schizophrenia. British Journal of
Psychiatry, 172, 35
-37.
Jönsson, B. & Bebbington, P. E. (1994)
What price depression? The cost of depression and the cost-effectiveness of
pharmacological treatment. British Journal of
Psychiatry, 164, 665
-673.
Kind, P. & Sorenson, J. (1993) The costs of depression. International Clinical Psychopharmacology, 7, 191-195.[Medline]
Liljas, B. (1998) How to calculate indirect costs in economic evaluations. Pharmacoeconomics, 13, 1-7.[CrossRef][Medline]
Netten, A. & Curtis, L. (2000) Unit Costs of Health and Social Care. Canterbury: Personal Social Services Research Unit, University of Kent.
Office for National Statistics (1995) Morbidity Statistics from General Practice, Fourth National Study 1991-1992. London: ONS.
Office for National Statistics (1998) Key Health Statistics from General Practice. (Series MB6, no. 2). London: ONS.
Office for National Statistics (2000a) Labour Force Survey. London: ONS.
Office for National Statistics (2000b) Mortality Statistics: Injury and Poisoning (DH4). London: ONS.
Office for National Statistics (2000c) New Earnings Survey: Average Weekly Earnings. London: ONS.
Office for National Statistics (2000d) Psychiatric Morbidity Survey. London: ONS.
Office for National Statistics (2001) Health Statistics Quarterly 11. London: ONS.
Rice, D. P. & Miller, L. S. (1995) The economic burden of affective disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry, 166 (suppl. 27), 34 -42.
Wagner, E. H. & Simon, G. (2001) Managing
depression in primary care. BMJ,
322, 746
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World Health Organization (1978) International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-9). Geneva: WHO.
World Health Organization (1992) International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10). Geneva: WHO.
Received for publication September 25, 2002. Revision received February 5, 2003. Accepted for publication February 19, 2003.
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| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
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