The journal of mental health policy and economics
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J Ment Health Policy Econ · Mar 2002
Comparative StudyImpact of primary care depression intervention on employment and workplace conflict outcomes: is value added?
Depression causes significant functional impairment in sufferers and often leads to adverse employment outcomes for working individuals. Recovery from depression has been associated with better employment outcomes at one year. ⋯ Formal cost-benefit analyses are needed to explore whether economic benefits to societal stakeholders from these and other labor outcomes equal or exceed the incremental costs of disseminating similar primary care interventions nationally. Researchers in other nations may wish to consider investigating the impact primary care depression interventions might have on employment and workplace outcomes in their countries.
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J Ment Health Policy Econ · Mar 2002
Comparative StudyA comparison of methods to handle skew distributed cost variables in the analysis of the resource consumption in schizophrenia treatment.
Transformation of the dependent cost variable is often used to solve the problems of heteroscedasticity and skewness in linear ordinary least square regression of health service cost data. However, transformation may cause difficulties in the interpretation of regression coefficients and the retransformation of predicted values. ⋯ Specification of an adequate regression models requires a careful examination of the characteristics of the data. Estimation of standard errors and confidence intervals by nonparametric methods which are robust against deviations from the normal distribution and the homoscedasticity of residuals are suitable alternatives to the transformation of the skew distributed dependent variable. Further studies with more adequate case numbers are needed to confirm the results.
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J Ment Health Policy Econ · Mar 2002
An analysis of the diffusion of new antidepressants: variety, quality, and marketing efforts.
We are not aware of any published research that quantifies and compares the importance of effectiveness and side effects for pharmaceutical sales, and that simultaneously incorporates the impacts of marketing efforts on the diffusion of new pharmaceutical agents in the U.S. The overall level and market share success of the various selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors ( SSRIs ) relative to a representative older generation tricyclic (such as amitriptyline) provides a useful focus for studying such issues. ⋯ Whether the relatively minor role that perceived effectiveness has in affecting sales relative to perceived side effect profile is unique to antidepressants, or generalizes to other therapeutic classes, merits further examination.