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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Depression is one of the most costly disorders for employers, according to comparative cost-of-illness studies. This is due largely to productivity losses associated with depression. Now, researchers report new treatments for depression could have patients busy at work and recovering faster.
Phillip Wang, M.D., Dr.P.H., of the National Institute of Mental Health in Rockville, Md., and his colleagues developed an intervention program and examined its effects on the outcome 604 depression patients. The study participants were all diagnosed with significant depression. Half were given the new intervention program that includes telephone outreach, while the other half received usual care.
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The study group who received the new intervention program had lower measurements of depression severity than the group given usual care at six months. After a year, the intervention group was about 26-percent likely to experience recovery, while the usual care group was only about 18-percent likely to recover. Data also showed the intervention group worked an average of two more hours per week than workers in the usual care group.
The results suggest that enhanced depression care of workers had benefits not only on clinical outcomes but also on workplace outcomes, wrote study authors.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2007;298:1401-1411
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