BioMedEcon Reports Three Times Higher Healthcare Costs Among Patients With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Compared To Patients With Depression

Main Category: Depression
Also Included In: Mental Health;  Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 16 Apr 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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BioMedEcon Health Economics and Outcomes Research has just delivered an oral presentation summarizing the results of a pioneering study that compares healthcare costs of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) to those of patients with depression. This presentation was delivered at the 31st Annual Meeting of the Society of General and Internal Medicine (SGIM) held in Pittsburgh, Penn. This study, which was funded by Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc., examined nine years (1997-2006) of health claims data among adults enrolled in the Florida Medicaid program who were either newly-diagnosed with "pure OCD" (OCD without the presence of bipolar disorder, psychoses or depression) or "pure depression" (depression without the presence of bipolar disorder, psychoses or OCD).

Patients with OCD were matched to those with depression on sex, race/ethnicity, medical illness severity, and age. Results showed that patients with newly-diagnosed OCD had three times higher healthcare costs than those with newly-diagnosed depression during the two years following their index diagnosis (median, two-year, per-patient healthcare costs were $25,666 versus $7,732, p<0.0001). It is particularly noteworthy that costs were significantly higher for outpatient medical but not outpatient psychiatric care.

OCD, which affects approximately two percent of the U.S. population, is an anxiety disorder that is characterized by recurrent, unwanted thoughts (obsessions) and/or repetitive behaviors (compulsions). Whereas many studies have found that patients with depression have higher healthcare costs than patients without depression, few studies have examined the healthcare costs incurred by patients with OCD.

"The results of this study are surprising," said Dr. Cheryl Hankin, principal investigator of the study and President and Chief Scientific Officer of BioMedEcon. "Because we matched patients with OCD or depression based upon their medical illness severity, one might expect that outpatient medical costs would have been equivalent between the groups. Given the well-established high utilization of medical services among patients with depression, these findings suggest that patients with OCD may be even more burdensome to the healthcare system. Physicians must do a better job of identifying OCD-related distress among patients receiving care in medical settings, and referring patients with OCD for specialty psychiatric care."

About BioMedEcon

Based in Moss Beach, California, privately-held BioMedEcon, LLC is a leading-edge provider of health economics and outcomes research. BioMedEcon applies rigorous scientific methods to create coherent, objective and practical formulary decision models, pharmaceutical and drug delivery market entry strategies, and healthcare policy recommendations. Clients and partners include established and emerging leaders in the pharmaceutical, biotech, drug delivery and medical device industries.

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