Critical evaluation of a decision-analytic model of major depression treatment

Antidepressants are typically one of the most costly drug classes in the dr ug budget. Due to the higher costs of many of the newer antidepressants, a number of studies have been conducted to evaluate the clinical and cost asp ects of depression treatment. The purpose of this month's Practical Pharmac oeconomics column is to assist readers in interpreting a cost-effectiveness evaluation of antidepressant drugs that used a decision tree model to asse ss the treatment of major depression.