Abstract
BackgroundThere is a lack of information on the cost of depression associated with metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases in the literature.MethodsWe evaluated the synergistic effects of depression and obesity on total expenditures for cardiovascular conditions using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) database. We analyzed MEPS data from 1996 to 2017 comprising adult cardiovascular subjects. We categorized individuals following a combination of International Classification of Diseases ICD-9-CM and ICD-10 codes, and depression symptoms as evaluated using the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2) depression screening tool. Our sample comprised cardiovascular patients aged 18 years and older, with a body mass index (BMI) between 18.5 and 60. Our study comprised unweighted sample of 96,697 (weighted sample of 938,835,031) adults, a US-nationwide representative sample of cardiovascular disease patients. The four response categories were: no depression; unrecognized depression; asymptomatic depression; and symptomatic depression. Our evaluated outcomes were total annual healthcare expenditures, including dental, emergency room, hospital outpatient, hospital inpatient, office-based, prescription, and home health care expenses.ResultsAsymptomatic and symptomatic depression was more frequent among obese individuals than in individuals with a normal BMI (p < 0.001). Total expenditure was highest among symptomatic depression individuals (17,536) and obese (9871) with cardiovascular disease. All the expenditure outcomes were significantly higher among symptomatic depression individuals than those without depression (p < 0.001), except for dental costs. All healthcare expenditures associated with obesity were higher compared to individuals with normal BMI with p < 0.001, except for emergency and home healthcare costs. Most importantly, among obese individuals, all healthcare expenditures were significantly higher (p < 0.001) in those with symptomatic depression than those without depression, except for dental costs, where the difference was not significant (0.899). Therefore, obesity and depression entail increased expenses in patients with cardiovascular disease.ConclusionsWe found incremental expenditures among unrecognized, asymptomatic, and symptomatic depressed individuals with obesity compared to non-depressed, non-obese subjects. However, these are preliminary results that should be further validated using different methodologies.
Highlights
There is a lack of information on the cost of depression associated with metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases in the literature
The sample presented a mean age of 61.5 years, of which 77.2% had no depression, 5.38% had unrecognized depression, 13% had asymptomatic depression, and 4.35% had symptomatic depression
To our knowledge, we report the first assessment of the economic interplay between obesity and depression among individuals with cardiovascular conditions, using a United States of America (US) nationally representative sample
Summary
There is a lack of information on the cost of depression associated with metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases in the literature. The worldwide prevalence of depressive episodes is approximately 3.5% [1] with over 17.3 million individuals (7.1%) diagnosed with major depressive disorder in the US in 2017, this prevalence being higher among individuals self-identified as multi-racial (11.3%) [2]. One out of every five patients with cardiovascular disease is diagnosed with major depressive disorder [3, 4]. Depression is the leading cause of morbidity and low quality of life among cardiovascular patients [5]. In one study, depressed women had adjusted annual cardiovascular costs $1550 to $3300 higher than not depressed women [6]. Depression was associated with a 15–53% increase in five-year cardiovascular costs [6]
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