Hafez Hospital Reports Findings in Depression (Economic burden of major depressive disorder: a case study in Southern Iran): Mental Health Diseases and Conditions – Depression

2022 SEP 14 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Middle East Daily -- New research on Mental Health Diseases and Conditions - Depression is the subject of a report. According to news reporting from Shiraz, Iran, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Depression disorders are a leading cause of disability in the world which imposes a significant economic burden on patients and societies The present study aimed to determine the economic burden of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) on the patients referred to the reference psychiatric single-specialty hospitals in southern Iran in 2020. This cross-sectional research is a partial economic evaluation and a cost-of-illness study conducted in southern Iran in 2020.”

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Hafez Hospital, “A total of 563 patients were enrolled through the census method, and a researcher-made data collection form was used to gather the required information. The prevalence-based and the bottom-up approaches were also used to collect the cost information and calculate the costs, respectively. The data on direct medical, direct non-medical, and indirect costs were obtained using the information in the patients’ medical records and insurance bills as well as their self-reports or those of their companions. To calculate the indirect costs, the human capital approach was used as well. The results showed that the annual cost of MDD was $ 2717.41 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) (USD 2026.13) per patient in 2020. Direct medical costs accounted for the largest share of the costs (73.68%), of which hoteling and regular beds expenses were the highest (57.70% of the total direct medical costs). The shares of direct non-medical and indirect costs were 7.52 and 18.80%, respectively, and the economic burden of the disease in the country was estimated at $7,120,456,596 PPP (USD 5,309,088,699). In general, due to the high prevalence of MDD and the chronicity of the disease, the costs of its treatment can impose a heavy economic burden on the society, healthcare system, insurance system, and the patients themselves. Therefore, it is suggested that health policymakers and managers should take appropriate measures to increase the basic and supplemental insurance coverage of these patients.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “In addition, in order to reduce the costs, proper and equitable distribution of psychiatrists and psychiatric beds, expansion of home care services, and use of Internet-based technologies and the cyberspace to follow up the treatment of these patients are recommended.”

For more information on this research see: Economic burden of major depressive disorder: a case study in Southern Iran. BMC Psychiatry, 2022;22(1):577. BMC Psychiatry can be contacted at: Bmc, Campus, 4 Crinan St, London N1 9XW, England. (BioMed Central - http://www.biomedcentral.com/; BMC Psychiatry - http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcpsychiatry/)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Arvin Hedayati, Dept. of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Research Center for Psychiatry and Behavior Science, Ebnesina Hospital, Hafez Hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Additional authors for this research include Khosro Keshavarz, Mojtaba Rezaei, Zahra Goudarzi, Ebrahim Moghimi, Mehdi Rezaee and Farhad Lotfi.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-022-04220-7. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the journal BMC Psychiatry is: Bmc, Campus, 4 Crinan St, London N1 9XW, England.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)