1Research Scholar, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Teerthankar Mahaveer College of Pharmacy, Teerthankar Mahaveer University, Moradabad, India. Email: adyt909@gmail.com. Orcid ID: 0000-0002-5616-7956 (Corresponding Author)
2Professor, School of Pharmacy, Sharda University, Greater Noida, India.
Background: Clinical depression is now one of the major contributors to public health concerns. Increases in Depression severity led to an economic burden on the patient, including increased healthcare spending and wage loss.
Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted among patients diagnosed with clinical depression at the Department of Psychiatry, Teerthankar Mahaveer Hospital, TMU, Moradabad, U.P., India. Depression severity was assessed using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), and health-related quality of life was measured using the EQ-5D-5L value set. The cost of illness is collected and measured by a bottom-up approach.
Results: A total of 357 patients shows that a decrease in quality of life in EQ-5D-5L with an increase in depression severity from 0.477 (mild) to 0.314 (severe). HRQOL impairment was observed across all EQ-5D-5L dimensions, with a strong negative correlation between HAM-D scores and utility (r = 0.284, P < 0.001). The average treatment cost is 5662.61. Depression severity is negatively correlated with total cost (r = 0.597, P < 0.001). whereas HRQOL did not significantly correlate with direct medical cost and non-medical cost, occupation emerged as the only significant (β= 0.146, P=0.008) in multivariable analysis.
Conclusion: Increasing depression severity is associated with a substantial decrement in HRQOL and significantly higher economic burden, primarily productivity loss. HRQOL and cost components appear to operate independently of depression severity. These findings highlight the need for early screening to detect and for timely intervention to improve patient care.
Keywords: Depression, EQ-5D-5L, HAM-D, Cost of illness, Health-related quality of life, Out-of-pocket expenditure, Utility values.
How to cite this article: Parashar A, Mittal P. Linking Depression Severity to Economic Burden and Quality of Life: A Cross-Sectional EQ-5D-5L–Based Cost of Illness Study. Int J Drug Deliv Technol. 2026;16(13s): 999-1008. DOI: 10.25258/ijddt.16.13s.111.
Source of support: Nil.
Conflict of interest: None