

@mastersthesis {6837,
	title = {Costs of major depression},
	year = {2003},
	note = {U185750},
	school = {University of London, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (United Kingdom)},
	type = {phdPh.{D}.},
	address = {Ann Arbor},
	abstract = {This research is a Cost-of-Illness (COI) study that aims to assess the economic burden of major depression in Italy. COI analysis represented the earliest form of economic evaluation in health care. Teh total costs of a disease were considered as a measure of benefits derived from preventing that illness. However, the usefulness of COI estimates was questioned by welfare economists who argued that economic benefits only derive from individuals{\textquoteright} willingness to pay and have nothing to do with averted costs. Nevertheless, COI studies continued to proliferate and the literature is full of such studies. Depression is one of the most common psychiatric disorders and a great awareness of the social costs of depression has been growing in many industrialised countries. COI studies of depression have been conducted in the last decades but lacked of clarity and precision in the: (i) definition of cases, (ii) resources consumption pattern, (iii) costing data, and (iv) explanation of cost trends. The present research reveals areas of improvements compared to the previous attempts. First, the study allows for more accuracy in defining the illness and determining the resources consumption patterns since data were gathered with a bottom-up approach. Secondly, the economic evaluation of resources consumption was grounded into economic theory. The full cost of services was estimated by designing a model which benefited from the more recent developments in cost accounting. Thirdly, the observed variability in cost outcomes was explained by using analytic statistics such as the analysis of variance and multi-variate regression models. And finally, the results are given the suitable form to truly serve the policy and management decision making processes. In order to reach these goals, the traditional framework of COI analysis has been reshaped in order to respond to the modern needs of society. Therefore, a prospective observational multi-centre study was designed.},
	keywords = {0501:Economics, Bibliographies, DXN077387, economics, Psychology{\textendash}Abstracting, Social sciences, Statistics},
	url = {http://search.proquest.com/docview/301578818?accountid=14270},
	author = {Tarricone, R}
}
