P42 Direct and Indirect Costs Associated with Major Depressive Disorder

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a disabling mental health condition with significant economic burden. This study evaluated direct and indirect healthcare costs for patients with MDD and cost differences across MDD severity levels. Adults (≥18 years) with a self-reported physician diagnosis of depression on the 2019 National Health and Wellness Survey were stratified by disease severity using Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) scores: mild≤9, moderate=10-14, moderate-severe=15-19, severe≥20. The comparison population consisted of participants representing the general US population without MDD, bipolar I disorder, or schizophrenia. Outcomes included estimated direct costs associated with self-reported healthcare resource utilization (healthcare professional [HCP] visits, emergency room [ER] visits, hospitalizations) and estimated indirect costs associated with work productivity loss. Cost outcomes (reported as annualized mean estimates) were compared between MDD and general population cohorts, and across MDD severity subgroups via multivariate analyses, adjusting for key baseline differences. There were 10,710 participants in the MDD cohort (severity: mild=5905, moderate=2206, moderate-severe=1565, severe=1034). In contrast to the general population (N=52,687), adults with MDD had significantly higher 12-month total direct costs ($8814 vs $6072; P