An investigation on economic costs of major depression in Shandong Jining

Objective To study the economic costs of depressive patients.Methods Ninety six depressive patients were investigated by using economic burden questionnaire(EBD)for one year prospective study.The economic costs and cost components of depressive patients were assessed.The differences of economic costs were compared between urban and rural depressive patients,or between inpatients and outpatients.Results The per capita total economic costs,direct costs and indirect costs of depressive patient were RMB $13293.26,5017.61(37.7%)and 8275.64(62.3%)respectively.The per capita total economic costs,direct costs and direct medical costs were significantly higher for inpatients than for outpatients(P0.05).There were significant differences in per capita total costs,indirect costs,the costs due to work delays and reduction of ability to work between urban and rural depressive patients(P0.05).Conclusions Depression causes huge economic costs.The indirect costs are the major component of the total costs.The total costs are higher for inpatients than for outpatients.Similarly,the total costs are higher for urban patients than for rural patients.