Brief Report

The Cost of Comorbid Depression and Pain for Individuals Diagnosed With Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Zhu, Baojin PhD; Zhao, Zhongyun PhD; Ye, Wenyu PhD; Marciniak, Martin D. PhD; Swindle, Ralph PhD

Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Dr. Zhao was an employee of Eli Lilly and Company when this manuscript was written. He is currently an employee of Amgen, Inc.

Send reprint requests to Baojin Zhu, PhD, Lilly Corporate Center, Eli Lilly and Company, DC5205, Indianapolis, IN 46285. E-mail: [email protected].

The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 197(2):p 136-139, February 2009. | DOI: 10.1097/NMD.0b013e3181963486

Abstract

Patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) often have comorbid medical and psychiatric disorders and may incur higher costs. In this study, a total of 36,435 GAD patients aged 18 to 64 were identified from a claims database. Patient's total health care and component costs were compared between GAD patients with and without comorbid depression and pain using general linear models. The average total annual cost for all the GAD patients in the study was $7451. Compared with patients with GAD-only, the estimated total cost was $762 higher for GAD with depression (p < 0.001), $2989 higher for GAD with pain (p < 0.001), and $6073 higher for GAD with both depression and pain (p < 0.001). Comorbid depression and pain had significant impact on costs, especially those with pain or with both depression and pain. This suggests that an optimal strategy for GAD should take into account comorbid pain and depression.