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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Depressive symptoms and the cost of health services in HMO patients aged 65 years and older
— a 4-year prospective study | | Author(s) | Jürgen Unützer, Donald L Patrick, Greg Simon |
| Journal title | JAMA, (Journal of the American Medical Association), vol 277, no 20, 28 May 1977 |
| Pages | pp 1618-1623 |
| Keywords | Depression ; Health services ; Costs [care] ; Longitudinal surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | 5012 Medicare enrollees aged over 65 at four primary care clinics of a health maintenance organization (HMO) in Seattle were invited to participate in this study, to examine whether depressive symptoms in older adults contribute to increased cost of general medical services. 2558 (51%) participated; non-participants were somewhat older and had a higher level of chronic illness. Depressive symptoms as measured by the US Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale were assessed at baseline, 2 years and 4 years. Data on total cost of medical services from the HMO's perspective were obtained from its cost accounting system. In this cohort of older adults, depressive symptoms were common, persistent, and associated with a significant increase in the cost of general medical services. This increase was seen for every component of health care costs, and was not accounted for by an increase in specialty mental health care. The increase in health care costs remained significant after adjusting for differences in age, sex, and chronic medical illness. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-980108209 A |
| Classmark | ENR: L: QDC: 3J: 7T * |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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