Purpose: This study aimed to identify the lost productivity time (LPT) for patients with panic disorder in Korea to establish relative costs to employers. It also assessed change in LPT after twelve weeks of treatment with SSRI’s while comparing to healthy controls.
Method: Working patients diagnosed with PD without other major medical or psychiatric illness were recruited at outpatient psychiatric clinics in Seoul (N=120). Age and sex-matched healthy controls were recruited through advertisement (N=112). Health and productivity, panic disorder symptoms, and depressive symptoms were assessed using the Korean version of the World Health Organization’s Health and Work Performance Questionnaire (HPQ), the Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS), and the Hamilton Rating Scales for Depression (HAM-D) at baseline, week four, and week twelve.
Result: At baseline, the PD group showed significantly higher LPT compared to the control group (103.02 vs. 47.29). The annual per-employee cost of LPT due to PD was estimated to be at $13,290, which amounts to 46.6% of the average annual salary in the PD group. After twelve weeks of treatment, the PD group displayed significant clinical improvement as well as improved productivity with marked reduction in LPT. The treatment was estimated to save total cost of LPT by $15,585 annually in the PD group.
Conclusion: Our data suggests that PD causes a large amount of loss, and that short-term psychiatric treatment can save this loss. Psychiatric health professionals along with employers should make efforts to develop more accessible healthcare environment for working patients with PD.
See more of: The 33rd Annual Meeting of the Society for Medical Decision Making