Cost-effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depressed Youth Declining Antidepressants.

ABSTRACT: Adolescents with depression identified in primary care settings often have limited treatment options beyond antidepressant (AD) therapy. We assessed the cost-effectiveness of a brief cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) program among depressed adolescents who declined or quickly stopped using ADs. A total of 212 youth with depression were randomly assigned to treatment as usual (TAU) or TAU plus brief individual CBT. Clinical outcomes included depression-free days (DFDs) and estimated quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). Costs were adjusted to 2008 US dollars. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) comparing CBT to TAU were calculated over 12- and 24-month follow-up periods. Youth randomly assigned to CBT had 26.8 more DFDs (P = .044) and 0.067 more QALYs (P = .044) on average compare

SUBMITTER: Dickerson JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5810604 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature