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Economic Implications of the Use of Antidepressants in Adults with Learning Disabilities Suffering from Affective Disorders
Author(s) -
BHAUMIK S.,
DUGGIRALA C.,
BEE J.,
WILDGUST H.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
human psychopharmacology: clinical and experimental
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.461
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1099-1077
pISSN - 0885-6222
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1077(199701/02)12:1<47::aid-hup833>3.0.co;2-6
Subject(s) - fluoxetine , audit , depression (economics) , psychiatry , retrospective cohort study , learning disability , psychology , medicine , surgery , management , receptor , serotonin , economics , macroeconomics
The cost of treatment with TCAs and SSRIs were audited over a 9‐month period in patients with major depression and co‐morbid learning disabilities, using retrospective case‐note analysis. Drug costs per treatment episode were found to be least for TCAs whilst they also incurred the highest side‐effect costs. The average direct medical costs per treatment episode were least for fluoxetine (£188·55) and highest for TCAs (£268·99) with SSRIs as a group being intermediate (£242·66). This study has limitations of being a non‐randomized retrospective audit, hence the results should be viewed with caution. However, currently there are no other data available. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.