Major depressive disorder is a debilitating and costly condition

This study aimed to characterize the effects of major depressive disorder on health-related quality of life, health care resource utilization, and direct medical and indirect costs

Health-related quality of life was lower in those with major depressive disorder relative to those without, and health-related quality of life decreased with increasing severity of major depressive disorder

Health care resource utilization and costs showed similar trends, with higher health care resource utilization and costs in those with major depressive disorder versus without; these outcomes also increased with increasing severity

Finally, among patients reporting a prior major depressive disorder treatment failure, the significant association between increasing major depressive disorder severity with lower health-related quality of life and higher indirect costs was still observed