Economic evaluation of an experience sampling method intervention in depression compared with treatment as usual...

Area of Science:

• Mental Health
• Psychiatry
• Health Economics

Background:

• Experience sampling method (ESM) allows real-time self-monitoring of affective experiences, offering potential for personalized depression treatment.
• Experience sampling method interventions (ESM-I) focus on dynamic positive affect patterns to enhance personalized depression care cost-effectively.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the cost-effectiveness of an experience sampling method intervention (ESM-I) compared to standard care in patients with major depression.
• To evaluate ESM-I as an add-on to pharmacotherapy from a societal perspective.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial involving 101 outpatients with major depression receiving pharmacotherapy.
• Participants were randomized into three groups: ESM-I with feedback, ESM without feedback, or treatment as usual.
• Economic evaluation included cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analyses using HDRS and QALYs, with a willingness-to-pay threshold of €50,000 per QALY.

Main Results:

• ESM-I was optimal at willingness-to-pay thresholds of approximately €3000 per unit HDRS and €40,500 per QALY.
• At the €50,000 per QALY threshold, ESM-I was the most favorable treatment with a 46% probability in the base-case analysis.
• Sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of these findings.

Conclusions:

• Experience sampling method interventions (ESM-I) can be tentatively concluded as a cost-effective add-on to pharmacotherapy for outpatients with major depression.
• ESM-I demonstrates potential for personalized treatment strategies in managing depression.