Care pathways for people with major depressive disorder: a European Brain Council Value of Treatment study

Background. Despite well-established guidelines for managing major depressive disorder, its extensive disability burden persists. This Value of Treatment mission from the European Brain Council aimed to elucidate the nature and extent of "gaps" between best-practice and currentpractice care, specifically to: 1. Identify current treatment gaps along the care pathway and determine the extent of these gaps in comparison with the stepped-care model and 2. Recommend policies intending to better meet patient needs (i.e., minimize treatment gaps). Methods. After agreement upon a set of relevant treatment gaps, data pertaining to each gap were gathered and synthesized from several sources across six European countries. Subsequently, a modified Delphi approach was undertaken to attain consensus among an expert panel on proposed recommendations for minimizing treatment gaps. Results. Four recommendations were made to increase the depression diagnosis rate (from similar to 50% episodes), aiming to both increase the number of patients seeking help, and the likelihood of a practitioner to correctly detect depression. These should reduce time to treatment (from similar to 1 to similar to 8 years after illness onset) and increase rates of treatment; nine further recommendations aimed to increase rates of treatment (from similar to 25 to similar to 50% of patients currently treated), mainly focused on targeting the best treatment to each patient. To improve follow-up after treatment initiation (from similar to 30 to similar to 65% followed up within 3 months), seven recommendations focused on increasing continuity of care. For those not responding, 10 recommendations focused on ensuring access to more specialist care (currently at rates of similar to 5-25% of patients). Conclusions. The treatment gaps in depression care are substantial and concerning, from the proportion of people not entering care pathways to those stagnating in primary care with impairing and persistent illness. A wide range of recommendations can be made to enhance care throughout the pathway.