Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) for major depression. Part 2. The cost-effectiveness of SSRIs in treatment of depression

Baladi J-F
Record ID 31997008319
English, French
Authors' objectives:

This study examines the cost-effectiveness of SSRIs as compared toTCAs in the outpatient treatment of depression. It assesses whether SSRIs, with their higher price, have the ability to enhance the success of antidepressive treatments, can lead to savings in other health care expenditures and can improve quality of life for patients.

Authors' results and conclusions: A decision model was built in order to compare different strategies. The first strategy consists of an SSRI followed by a TCA in case of failure, the second strategy consists of a TCA followed by an SSRI in case of failure, and the third strategy consists of TCA only.
Authors' recommendations: This analysis allows us to conclude that a treatment strategy which can rely on SSRIs leads to higher success rate than one which relies on TCAs alone. When both drug classes are considered as part of a treatment, the SSRI first strategy has similar success rate as a TCA first therapy and is more costly. However, this cost may likely be offset by improved quality of life of patients.
Details
Project Status: Completed
URL for project: https://www.ccohta.ca/
Year Published: 1997
English language abstract: An English language summary is available
Publication Type: Not Assigned
Country: Canada
MeSH Terms
  • Antidepressive Agents
  • Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic
  • Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors
  • Depression
Contact
Organisation Name: Canadian Coordinating Office for Health Technology Assessment
Contact Address: 600-865 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, ON K1S 5S8 Canada. Tel: +1 613 226 2553, Fax: +1 613 226 5392;
Contact Name: requests@cadth.ca
Contact Email: requests@cadth.ca
Copyright: Canadian Coordinating Office for Health Technology Assessment
This is a bibliographic record of a published health technology assessment from a member of INAHTA or other HTA producer. No evaluation of the quality of this assessment has been made for the HTA database.