Economic Evaluations of Treatment of Depressive Disorders in Adolescents in Randomized Controlled Trials: Protocol for a Scoping Review

Introduction: Depressive disorders in adolescents are common and impairing. Evidence-based treatments are available; however, at a cost. In the context of the pandemic, we anticipate increased demand for treatment services for adolescents with depression. We also anticipate that economic resources will be strained. Identifying cost-effective strategies to optimally treat depression in adolescents is imperative. Methods and Analysis: We will conduct a scoping review using established methods and reporting guidelines. MEDLINE, Embase, PsyclNFO, Econlit, and the International HTA Database will be searched from inception to September 1, 2022, while the NHS Economic Evaluation Database archives will be searched from inception to December 2014. Publications that contain economic evaluations in the context of an RCT testing a treatment of depression in adolescents will be selected for inclusion. Extracted data items will include: economic evaluation perspectives, health outcome variables and costs used in economic evaluations, types of analyses performed, as well as quality of reporting and methodology. A narrative synthesis with summary tables will be used to describe our findings.