Direct Health Care Costs of Treating Seasonal Affective Disorder: A Comparison of Light Therapy and Fluoxetine

Table 2

Total health care costs and cost differences based on full purchase cost of light box between fluoxetine and light therapy arms.

Type of cost		Mental-health-related costs		Mental- and non-mental-health-related costs
Treatment group		Medication	Light	Medication	Light
Direct health care costs	Before^1	71.72 (158.68)	86.37 (203.68)	109.50 (186.77)	126.73 (238.13)
	After^2	122.17 (117.75)	312.78 (186.09)	213.68 (263.29)	355.41 (234.47)
Drug costs	Before^3	10.82 (21.74)	22.86 (56.93)	10.82 (21.74)	22.86 (56.93)
	After^4	62.80 (70.60)	14.63 (55.46)	62.80 (70.60)	14.63 (55.46)
Total costs	Before^5	82.35 (156.84)	109.23 (217.14)	120.18 (183.33)	149.60 (251.50)
	After^6	184.95 (142.41)	327.41 (194.72)	276.48 (279.43)	369.77 (239.40)
	Mean of individual differences between before and after^7	96.40 (206.29) *	207.65 (259.42) *	168.72 (302.09) **	197.84 (318.58) **

* P < 0.0001.
**Not statistically significant.
Notes: medication: fluoxetine 20 mg once daily, light therapy: light box 30 minutes per day, SD: standard deviation.
*Statistically significant differences were found between the fluoxetine group and light therapy group.
^†Participants were randomized to either fluoxetine 20 mg once daily or light box 30 minutes each day.
¹Total health care costs for the 4 weeks prior to enrollment in study.
²Total health care costs for the 4 weeks prior to the end of the study.
³Total drug costs for the 4 weeks prior to enrollment in study.
⁴Total drug costs for the 4 weeks prior to the end of the study.
⁵Total health care and drugs costs for the 4 weeks prior to enrollment in study.
⁶Total health care and drug costs for the 4 weeks prior to the end of the study.
⁷The difference in total health care and drug costs for the 4 weeks prior to the enrollment of the study and for the 4 weeks prior to the end of the study.