The impact of depressive symptoms on healthcare costs in late life

• Verfasst von: Bock, Jens-Oliver [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Weyerer, Siegfried [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Werle, Jochen [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: The impact of depressive symptoms on healthcare costs in late life
• Titelzusatz: longitudinal findings from the AgeMooDe study
• Verf.angabe: Jens-Oliver Bock, André Hajek, Siegfried Weyerer, Jochen Werle, Michael Wagner, Wolfgang Maier, Anne Stark, Hanna Kaduszkiewicz, Birgitt Wiese, Lilia Moor, Janine Stein, Steffi G. Riedel-Heller, Hans-Helmut König
• Jahr: 2017
• Jahr des Originals: 2016
• Umfang: 11 S.
• Fussnoten: Available online 2 November 2016 ; Gesehen am 21.09.2018
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: American journal of geriatric psychiatry
• Ort Quelle: [Amsterdam] : Elsevier, 1993
• Jahr Quelle: 2017
• Band/Heft Quelle: 25(2017), 2, Seite 131-141
• ISSN Quelle: 1545-7214
• DOI: doi:10.1016/j.jagp.2016.10.011
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• Sach-SW: Depression
• Sach-SW: depressive symptoms
• Sach-SW: economic burden
• Sach-SW: healthcare costs
• Sach-SW: old age
• K10plus-PPN: 158117960X

Abstract

Objective To examine whether depressive symptoms affect healthcare costs in old age longitudinally. Design Multicenter prospective observational cohort study (two waves with nt1 = 1,195 and nt2 = 951) in Germany. Setting Community. Participants Participants aged 75 years and older recruited via general practitioners.Measurements Depressive symptoms were assessed by the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). The health-related resource use was measured retrospectively from a societal perspective based on a questionnaire, covering outpatient services, inpatient treatment, pharmaceuticals, as well as formal and informal nursing care. Hybrid regression models were used to determine the between- and within-effect of depressive symptoms on healthcare costs, adjusting for important covariates. Results Six-month total cost increased from €3,090 (t1) to €3,748 (t2). The hybrid random effects models showed that individuals with more depressive symptoms had higher healthcare costs compared with individuals with less depressive symptoms (between-effect). Moreover, an intra-individual increase in depressive symptoms increased healthcare costs by €539.60 (within-effect) per symptom on GDS. Conclusions Our findings emphasize the economic importance of depressive symptoms in old age. Appropriate interventions to treat depressive symptoms in old age might also be a promising strategy to reduce healthcare costs.