The clinical & economic burden of treatment‐resistant depression in the Gulf‐Cooperation Council: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates

OBJECTIVE: The current analysis assessed the economic and clinical burden of treatment‐Resistant Depression (TRD) imposed on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Kuwait and United Arab Emirates (UAE) from the societal perspective. METHODS: A Microsoft Excel(®) based Markov model was developed to estimate the overall burden of disease imposed by TRD across KSA, Kuwait and UAE. Data for the models' adaptation were retrieved from literature and validated by country‐specific key opinion leaders. The cycle length and time horizon used in the model were 4 weeks and 1 year, respectively. RESULTS: The study results estimated that at the end of 1‐year time horizon, overall burden imposed by TRD was 3994, 982 and 670 million USD in KSA, Kuwait, and UAE, respectively. This can be attributed to the high cost incurred due to non‐responsive health state (ranging from 44% to 47%). The productivity loss was either the greatest or second greatest component of TRD's burden in the countries of interest (ranging from 32% to 43%). CONCLUSIONS: TRD represents a large clinical and economic burden on both individual patients and society. Hence, noval and innovative treatments are especially required for the management of TRD patients.