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Improvements in Quality-Adjusted Life Years and Cost–Utility After Pharmacotherapy for Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder: A Retrospective Study

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Abstract

Background and Objective

To investigate the cost-effectiveness of pharmacotherapy for premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), a relatively new classification of depressive disorder that is characterized by recurrent depression during the premenstrual phase of the menstrual cycle.

Methods

We performed a retrospective analysis of data from 49 previously untreated PMDD patients who visited our psychiatric department between October 2013 and February 2016 and received pharmacotherapy for 3 or 6 subsequent menstrual cycles. Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) were estimated across individual menstrual cycles using mean EuroQoL-5D values. Direct costs per patient were estimated in order to conduct a preliminary cost-effectiveness analysis.

Results

Pharmacotherapy produced a 0.190-point increase in mean EuroQoL-5D score per menstrual cycle after 6 menstrual cycles and an improvement of approximately 0.2 QALYs. Based on direct costs of 156,000 yen per patient, the cost-effectiveness of pharmacotherapy was calculated to be 823,000 yen per QALY. A cost-effectiveness acceptability curve analysis indicated that escitalopram tended to be superior to sertraline when willingness to pay per QALY was over 4,000,000 yen, whereas sertraline was superior when willingness to pay was below 2,000,000 yen.

Conclusions

Pharmacotherapy is cost effective for the treatment of PMDD. Moreover, escitalopram is a more cost-effective option than sertraline when willingness to pay is sufficiently high.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Keio University Law School, Tokyo, Japan

    Eiichiro Kamagata

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University Hospital, 1-12-1 Fukumuro, Miyagino-ku, Sendai, 983-8512, Japan

    Kazuo Yamada

Authors
  1. Eiichiro Kamagata
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  2. Kazuo Yamada
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kazuo Yamada.

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Funding

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP26670544.

Conflict of interest

Eiichiro Kamagata and Kazuo Yamada declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Kamagata, E., Yamada, K. Improvements in Quality-Adjusted Life Years and Cost–Utility After Pharmacotherapy for Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder: A Retrospective Study. Clin Drug Investig 38, 49–55 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40261-017-0583-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40261-017-0583-3

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