Inadequate follow-up care for depression and its impact on antidepressant treatment duration among veterans with and without diabetes mellitus in the Veterans Health Administration.

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to describe the adequacy of follow-up care for depression and its association with antidepressant treatment duration among veterans with and without diabetes mellitus (DM).
METHOD: This was a retrospective study (1997-2005) of 2178 veterans (33% with DM) in a Midwestern Veterans Health Administration facility who had a new episode of unipolar depression. Adequate follow-up care was defined by a health care visit within 7 and 14 days, and >/=3 visits following antidepressant treatment initiation. Adequate treatment duration was defined by a medication possession ratio of >/=80%. Multivariate logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) adjusted for demographic, clinical and health care utilization characteristics.
RESULTS: Only 27% received >/=3 follow-up visits within 12 weeks, and <23% received follow-up within 2 weeks of antidepressant initiation. Subjects with DM were 1.36-fold more likely [95% confidence interval (95% CI)=1.05-1.75] to have received >/=3 visits but were similarly likely to have received follow-up within 7 days (OR=1.02; 95% CI=0.74-1.41) or 14 days (OR=1.08; 95% CI=0.83-1.40) of antidepressant initiation. Adequate follow-up care was the most important predictor of adequate treatment duration (OR=2.10; 95% CI=1.54-2.88).
CONCLUSION: DM had little influence on the adequacy of follow-up care for depression, with few exceptions. Follow-up care for depression is underutilized and has a significant impact on antidepressant treatment duration. Strategies to more effectively manage depression treatment are required.