Measuring outcomes and costs for major depression.

This article addresses briefly the measurement of multidimensional outcomes and costs for major depression. We emphasize the importance of measuring outcomes in a variety of domains, including the broader issues of improvement or decline in functioning and impairment based on domains known to be affected by major depression. We emphasize the importance of measuring the economic costs of illness, both the direct total health care costs and indirect costs. Direct costs include mental health treatment costs and all other health care costs. Indirect costs include such varied factors as lost wages for the depressed individual and caregiver burden. We demonstrate the usefulness and importance of using these measures with several examples from our own research.