Depressive symptoms and health costs in older medical patients.
Am J Psychiatry
; 156(3): 477-9, 1999 Mar.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-10080569
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
The authors assessed the association between depressive symptoms and health costs for a national Veterans Administration (VA) sample.METHOD:
The Rand Depression Index was administered to 1,316 medical or surgical inpatients over the age of 60 at nine VA hospitals. Scores were merged with utilization, demographic, and hospital data from national VA inpatient and outpatient files.RESULTS:
Medical costs for respondents with the highest quartile of symptoms were approximately $3,200-or 50%-greater than medical costs for those in the least symptomatic quartile. Depressive symptoms were not associated with any statistically significant mental health expenditures.CONCLUSIONS:
The study extends previous reports of the high medical costs associated with depressive disorders to an older, public sector population. The mechanisms underlying increased medical costs associated with depressive symptoms, while the subject of much speculation in the literature, still remain largely unknown.
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Coleções:
01-internacional
Contexto em Saúde:
1_ASSA2030
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Custos de Cuidados de Saúde
/
Transtorno Depressivo
Tipo de estudo:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Health_economic_evaluation
Limite:
Aged
/
Humans
/
Middle aged
País/Região como assunto:
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Am J Psychiatry
Ano de publicação:
1999
Tipo de documento:
Article