Healthcare utilization and costs in patients beginning pharmacotherapy for generalized anxiety disorder: a retrospective cohort study

BMC Psychiatry

Research Article

Vamsi Bollu¹  Jose Ma J Alvir²  Ashish V Joshi²  Ashish Dugar²  Ariel Berger³  John Edelsberg³  Gerry Oster³ 

[1] Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, Bldg 432/554-2D, One Health Plaza, 07045, East Hanover, NJ, USA;Pfizer Inc., 235 East 42nd Street, 10017, New York, NY, USA;Policy Analysis Inc. (PAI), Four Davis Court, 02445, Brookline, MA, USA;

关键词: Fluoxetine;    Generalize Anxiety Disorder;    Sertraline;    Venlafaxine;    Index Date;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-244X-11-193

 received in 2011-04-25, accepted in 2011-12-12,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPatterns of healthcare utilization and costs in patients beginning pharmacotherapy for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) have not been well characterized.MethodsUsing a large US health insurance database, we identified all patients with evidence of GAD (ICD-9-CM diagnosis code 300.02) who initiated pharmacotherapy with medications commonly used to treat GAD (eg, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors [SSRIs], venlafaxine, benzodiazepines) between 1/1/2003 and 12/31/2007. We examined healthcare utilization and costs over the 12-month periods preceding and following date of initial receipt of such therapy ("pretreatment" and "follow-up", respectively). Patients with incomplete data were excluded.ResultsA total of 10,275 patients met all study inclusion criteria. Forty-eight percent of patients received SSRIs; 34%, benzodiazepines; and 6%, venlafaxine. SSRIs and venlafaxine were about three times more likely to be used on a long-term basis (> 90 days) than benzodiazepines (p < 0.01). In general, levels of healthcare utilization were higher during follow-up than pretreatment. Mean (SD) total healthcare costs increased from $4812 ($10,006) during pretreatment to $7182 ($22,041) during follow-up (p < 0.01); costs of GAD-related pharmacotherapy during follow-up were $420 ($485).ConclusionsMore than one-half of patients initiating pharmacotherapy for GAD receive either SSRIs or venlafaxine. Levels of healthcare utilization and costs are greater in the year following initiation of therapy than in the immediately preceding one.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Berger et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011