The economic burden of treatment-resistant depression: Cost-of-illness perspective

Depression is among the most prevalent of illnesses in all of medicine. The high prevalence of depression and its adverse effects on day-to-day functioning translate into considerable societal burden. Not surprisingly, burden-of-disease studies have consistently documented profoundly high economic costs of depressive disorders. The cumulative costs of pharmaceuticals and other failed interventions in patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) raise the expectation of greater incremental costs being associated with TRD compared with treatment-responsive depression. In this chapter, we provide a broad overview of published studies of the cost of illness (COI) associated with TRD, beginning with a general overview of COI study methods. Limitations of existing studies and gaps in the current literature will be highlighted, and future directions in COI research as they pertain to TRD will be discussed.