Incidence and Cost of Depression After Occupational Injury

OBJECTIVES: We examined if injured workers were more likely than noninjured workers to be treated for depression after an occupational injury and estimated the cost paid by group medical insurance. METHOD: Nearly 367,900 injured and noninjured workers were drawn from the 2005 Thomson Reuters MarketScan data. Descriptive, logistic, and two-part model regression analyses were used. RESULTS: The odds of injured workers being treated for depression within the study period were 45% higher than those of noninjured workers (95% confidence interval, 1.17-1.78). The unconditional average cost of outpatient depression treatment was 63% higher for injured workers than for noninjured workers. CONCLUSIONS: Injured workers were more likely than noninjured workers to suffer from depression during the study period. Consequently, additional costs are incurred for treating injured workers' depression; these costs were not covered by the workers' compensation system.