Randomised controlled trial of non-directive counselling, cognitive-behaviour therapy, and usual general practitioner care for patients with depression. II: Cost effectiveness

Objective To compare the cost effectiveness of general practitioner care an d two general practice based psychological therapies for depressed patients . Design Prospective, controlled trial with randomised and patient preference allocation arms. Setting General practices in London and greater Manchester. Participants 464 of 627 patients presenting with depression or mixed anxiet y and depression were suitable for inclusion. Interventions Usual general practitioner care or up to 12 sessions of non-d irective counselling or cognitive-behaviour therapy provided by therapists. Main outcome measures Beck depression inventory scores, EuroQol measure of health related quality of life, direct treatment and non-treatment costs, a nd cost of lost production. Results 197 patients were randomly assigned to treatment, 137 chose their t reatment, and 130 were randomised only between the two psychological therap ies. At four months, both non-directive counselling and cognitive-behaviour therapy reduced depressive symptoms to a significantly greater extent than usual general practitioner care. There was no significant difference in ou tcome between treatments at 12 months. There were no significant difference s in direct costs, production losses, or societal costs between the three t reatments at either four or 12 months. Sensitivity analyses did not suggest that the results depended on particular assumptions in the statistical ana lysis. Conclusions Within the constraints of available power, the data suggest tha t both brief psychological therapies may be significantly more cost effecti ve than usual care in the short term, as benefit was gained with no signifi cant difference in cost There are no significant differences between treatm ents in either outcomes or costs at 12 months.