Costs associated with mood and anxiety disorders, as evaluated by telephone survey

Costing studies are central to health policy decisions. Available costing estimates for mood and anxiety disorders in Canada may, however, be out of date. In this study, we estimated a set of direct health care costs using data collected in a provincial telephone survey of mood and anxiety disorders in Alberta. The survey used random digit dialing to reach a sample of 3394 household residents aged 18 to 64. A telephone interview included items assessing costs without reference to whether these were incurred by the respondent, government or a health plan. The survey interview also included the Mini Neuropsychiatric Diagnostic Interview (MINI). Costs for antidepressant medications appear to have increased since the last available estimates were published. Surprisingly, most medication costs for antidepressants were incurred by respondents without an identified disorder. Also, an unexpectedly large proportion of medication costs were for psychotropic medications other than antidepressants and anxiolytic-sedative-hypnotics. These results suggest that major changes have occurred in the costs associated with antidepressant treatment. Available cost-of-illness data may be outdated, and some assumptions made by previous studies may now be invalid.