Treatment patterns, healthcare resource utilization, and costs following first-line antidepressant treatment in major depressive disorder: a retrospective US claims database analysis

Although the symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD) are often manageable with pharmacotherapy, response to first-line antidepressant treatment is often less than optimal. This study describes long-term treatment patterns in MDD patients in the United States and quantifies the economic burden associated with different treatment patterns following first-line antidepressant therapy. MDD patients starting first-line antidepressant monotherapy and having continuous enrollment ≥12 months before and ≥24 months following the index date (i.e., the first documented prescription fill) were selected from the Truven Health Analytics MarketScan (2003-2014) database. Based on the type of first treatment change following initiation, six treatment cohorts were defined a priori ("persistence"; "discontinuation"; "switch"; "dose escalation"; "augmentation"; and "combination"). Treatment patterns through the fourth line of therapy within each cohort, healthcare resource utilization (HCRU), and cost analyses were restricted to patients with adequate treatment duration (defined as ≥42 days) in each line (analysis sub-sample, N = 21,088). HCRU and costs were described at the cohort and pattern levels. Treatment cohorts representing