Cost-effectiveness and cost-utility study of a psychoeducational group intervention for people with depression and physical comorbidity in primary care

Antonia Raya-Tena; María Isabel Fernández-San-Martín; Jaume Martín-Royo; Marc Casajuana-Closas; María Francisca Jiménez-Herrera; Grup Psicodep

doi:10.1016/j.enfcle.2024.03.005

Cost-effectiveness and cost-utility study of a psychoeducational group intervention for people with depression and physical comorbidity in primary care

Enferm Clin (Engl Ed). 2024 Mar 18:S2445-1479(24)00024-9. doi: 10.1016/j.enfcle.2024.03.005. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Antonia Raya-Tena¹, María Isabel Fernández-San-Martín², Jaume Martín-Royo³, Marc Casajuana-Closas⁴, María Francisca Jiménez-Herrera⁵; Grup Psicodep

Collaborators

Grup Psicodep:
M I Fernández-San-Martin, J Martin-Royo, G Sauch-Valmaña, A Raya-Tena, R Casañas-Sanchez, E M Fernandez-Linares, R Masa-Font, Marc Casajuana-Closas, C Cols-Sagarra, J Mendioroz-Peña, S Gonzalez-Tejon, L M Martin-López, Q Foguet-Boreu

Affiliations

¹ Centre d'Atenció Primària Dr. Lluís Sayé, ABS Raval Nord, Institut Català de la Salut, Barcelona, Spain; Línea d'Investigació en Biomedicina, Epidemiologia i Pràctica Clínica Avançada, Facultat de Infermeria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain. Electronic address: arayat.bcn.ics@gencat.cat.
² Institut Universitari d'Investigació en Atenció Primària Jordi Gol (IDIAP Jordi Gol), Barcelona, Spain; Unitat Docent Multiprofesional, Gerència Territorial Barcelona, Institut Català de la Salut, Barcelona, Spain.
³ Unitat Bàsica de Prevenció, Gerència Territorial Barcelona, Institut Català de la Salut, Barcelona, Spain.
⁴ Institut Universitari d'Investigació en Atenció Primària Jordi Gol (IDIAP Jordi Gol), Barcelona, Spain; Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.
⁵ Línea d'Investigació en Biomedicina, Epidemiologia i Pràctica Clínica Avançada, Facultat de Infermeria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain.

PMID: 38508236
DOI: 10.1016/j.enfcle.2024.03.005

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness and cost-utility of a psychoeducational group intervention led by primary care (PC) nurses in relation to customary care to prevent the depression and improve quality of life in patients with physical comorbidity.

Design: Economic evaluation based on data from randomized, multicenter clinical trial with blind response variables and a one-year follow-up, carried in the context of the PSICODEP study.

Location: 7 PC teams from Catalonia.

Participants: >50 year-old patients with depression and some physical comorbidity: diabetes mellitus type 2, ischemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and/or asthma.

Intervention: 12 psychoeducational group sessions, 1 per week, led by 2 PC nurses with prior training.

Measurements: Effectiveness: depression-free days (DFD) calculated from the BDI-II and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) from the Euroqol-5D. Direct costs: PC visits, mental health, emergencies and hospitalizations, drugs. Indirect costs: days of temporary disability (TD). The incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER), cost-effectiveness (ΔCost/ΔDLD) and cost-utility (ΔCost/ΔQALY) were estimated.

Results: The study includes 380 patients (intervention group [IG] = 204; control group [CG] = 176). 81.6% women; mean age 68.4 (SD = 8.8). The IG had a higher mean cost of visits, less of hospitalizations and less TD than the CG. The difference in costs between the IG and the CG was -357.95€ (95% CI: -2026.96 to 1311.06) at one year of follow-up. There was a mean of 11.95 (95% CI: -15.98 to 39.88) more DFD in the IG than in the CG. QALYs were similar (difference -0.01, 95% CI -0.04 to 0.05). The ICERs were 29.95€/DLD and 35,795€/QALY.

Conclusions: Psychoeducational intervention is associated with an improvement in DFD, as well as a reduction in costs at 12 months, although not significantly. QALYs were very similar between groups.

Keywords: Atención primaria; Chronic pathology; Cost-effectiveness; Coste-efectividad; Depresión; Depression; Enfermera; Nurse; Patología crónica; Primary care; Psicoeducación; Psychoeducation.