Poster
18
(#18) Real-world assessment of disease characteristics in patients with major depressive disorder by number of treatment episodes
Psych Congress 2025
Abstract: Objective: Real-world insights may identify differences in major depressive disorder (MDD) disease progression and incremental burden among patients experiencing multiple episodes, underscoring the necessity for tailored therapeutic approaches. This study aims to identify differences in disease progression among patients by number of MDD episodes.
Methods: MDD patients (N=203,313) with ≥2 MDD encounters from 01 January 2012 - 31 March 2022 were identified in Optum Clinformatics claims with treatment episode defined by linking prescriptions and allowing a ≤120-day gap. Patients with more than one treatment episode during the follow-up time were considered "recurrent" patients. Patients were stratified by number of episodes and analyzed with descriptive statistics.
Results: When comparing baseline data across episodes, psychiatric comorbidities decreased with an increase in number of episodes. Patients in the single-episode group have higher rates of anxiety (22.0%) compared to those in the ≥3-episode group (17.3%). In each group (1, 2, ≥3), physical comorbidities such as hypertension (25.8%, 25.3%, 28.0%), and obesity (14.9%, 15.0%, 16.0%) increased indicating a potential association between the burden of mental and physical health disorders. Additionally, emergency room and inpatient visits increased most in patients with ≥3 episodes.
Conclusions: Patients with recurrent MDD demonstrated lower mental health comorbidities, antidepressant usage, and healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) at baseline, but increased physical health comorbidities. During follow-up, those with more episodes showed higher HCRU, likely due to longer disease duration. Failure rates declined with more MDD segments, highlighting the severity of the first segment and the importance of early interventions to reduce long-term burden.
Short Description: The study analyzed 203,313 MDD patients with multiple episodes. It found that psychiatric comorbidities decreased with more episodes, while physical comorbidities like hypertension and obesity increased. Patients with recurrent MDD had lower mental health comorbidities and healthcare resource utilization at baseline but showed higher utilization during follow-up. The findings highlight the importance of early interventions to reduce long-term burden.
Name of Sponsoring Organization(s): Boehringer Ingelheim
Methods: MDD patients (N=203,313) with ≥2 MDD encounters from 01 January 2012 - 31 March 2022 were identified in Optum Clinformatics claims with treatment episode defined by linking prescriptions and allowing a ≤120-day gap. Patients with more than one treatment episode during the follow-up time were considered "recurrent" patients. Patients were stratified by number of episodes and analyzed with descriptive statistics.
Results: When comparing baseline data across episodes, psychiatric comorbidities decreased with an increase in number of episodes. Patients in the single-episode group have higher rates of anxiety (22.0%) compared to those in the ≥3-episode group (17.3%). In each group (1, 2, ≥3), physical comorbidities such as hypertension (25.8%, 25.3%, 28.0%), and obesity (14.9%, 15.0%, 16.0%) increased indicating a potential association between the burden of mental and physical health disorders. Additionally, emergency room and inpatient visits increased most in patients with ≥3 episodes.
Conclusions: Patients with recurrent MDD demonstrated lower mental health comorbidities, antidepressant usage, and healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) at baseline, but increased physical health comorbidities. During follow-up, those with more episodes showed higher HCRU, likely due to longer disease duration. Failure rates declined with more MDD segments, highlighting the severity of the first segment and the importance of early interventions to reduce long-term burden.
Short Description: The study analyzed 203,313 MDD patients with multiple episodes. It found that psychiatric comorbidities decreased with more episodes, while physical comorbidities like hypertension and obesity increased. Patients with recurrent MDD had lower mental health comorbidities and healthcare resource utilization at baseline but showed higher utilization during follow-up. The findings highlight the importance of early interventions to reduce long-term burden.
Name of Sponsoring Organization(s): Boehringer Ingelheim
